Canada said on 10 July that it had reached a deal with the US and that the Gordie Howe international bridge will open on 27 July, ending months of delay over a crossing meant to ease pressure on the busy Detroit River corridor. The opening had been pushed back after the Trump administration blocked the $4.7bn publicly owned bridge for months.
The new date matters because the bridge was supposed to open earlier this year after eight years of construction, and an early June ribbon-cutting was abruptly cancelled as the dispute between US and Canadian officials deepened. For shippers, commuters and the border economy, the reset means the long-promised link between Detroit and Windsor finally has a launch date after months of uncertainty.
Matthew Moroun, who owns the nearby Ambassador Bridge, has been at the center of the political fight. He donated $1m to a Trump political action committee in January and got a meeting with Howard Lutnick in February. Hours later, Trump on Truth Social threatened not to open the Howe, and June deadlines for an opening came and went. Moroun has opposed the new bridge for decades, while the Ambassador Bridge remains North America’s busiest international crossing, carrying as many as 3m trucks a year and generating up to $100 on each truck crossing.
The dispute was never only about timing. The new deal says US government approval is needed if toll fees are lowered below regional averages, even though the Canadian government had previously set toll prices. That condition gives Washington a say in a lever it had not controlled before, and it leaves the bridge’s finances tied to a cross-border approval process even as the opening itself is now fixed.
The wider political fallout is still hanging over the project. House oversight committee members Robert Garcia and Rashida Tlaib are investigating whether the delay amounted to a political favor, and they wrote to Moroun in February accusing him of trying to derail the project. Their complaint said it appeared he may have used his influence as a donor to President Donald Trump to jeopardize American commerce to protect his company’s bottom line. With the opening now set for 27 July, the bridge is moving forward — but the argument over why it was delayed is not finished.
