<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/trump-gordie-howe-bridge-canada>
"As Democrats prepare to force a vote in the US House this week on Donald
Trump’s tariffs on Canada, the president posted a lengthy tirade on his social
media platform in which he threatened to block a bridge connecting the US and
Canada and made a bizarre false claim that increased trade between Canada and
China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey.
Trump began his latest screed against the US’s second-largest trading partner
by claiming that “everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United
States very unfairly for decades”.
The president also threatened to block the scheduled opening of the $4.6bn
Gordie Howe international bridge, connecting Windsor, Ontario and Detroit,
Michigan, built by a binational partnership that won approval during the Obama
administration but began construction in 2018, when Trump was president.
“I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully
compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada
treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump
wrote on Monday.
Trump blamed his predecessor Barack Obama for “stupidly” approving the bridge
project, but made no mention of the fact that he had endorsed it himself in
2017 in a joint statement with Canada’s then prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
“In particular, we look forward to the expeditious completion of the Gordie
Howe international bridge, which will serve as a vital economic link between
our two countries,” Trump and Trudeau said.
In 2012, Michigan’s then governor Rick Snyder accepted a Canadian government
offer to fund most of the new bridge’s costs, and took the unusual step of
using executive authority to bypass the legislature. Construction began in 2018
and the bridge is nearing completion. The US homeland security department on 30
January published a rule declaring the bridge as an official port of entry.
The Canadian embassy in Washington, the office of Michigan governor Gretchen
Whitmer and the bridge authority did not immediately comment."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
