One Call from One Billionaire
If you believe that Trump’s latest Canadian blockade is really about trade, then I have a bridge in Detroit to sell you.
On June 15, 2012, Canada and the State of Michigan signed the Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement, a pivotal alliance involving the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, which established the framework for the largest and most ambitious bi-national infrastructure plan along the United States’ border with Canada. The pact created the framework for the construction of the new international bridge, Ports of Entry, and the Michigan Interchange, and included important provisions for the design, build, financing, operation, and maintenance of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
All parties agreed that an International Authority, comprised of equal representation by Canada and Michigan, would be the governing body for the project. Canada provided funding for the bridge with the understanding that tolls for both Canada-bound and US-bound traffic would be collected on the Canadian side of the crossing to reimburse the Canadian government for the bridge funds it advanced in the project. Most importantly, the bridge crossing would be owned jointly by Canada and Michigan.
As the completion of the project that Michigan and Detroit have been counting on for years as a method to usher in a new era of international commerce, border security, and tourism nears, it only took one phone call from one billionaire to get Donald Trump to blow up decades worth of good faith negotiations and nearly five billion dollars in funding from Canada.
Matthew Moroun is a Detroit-based trucking magnate whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, for nearly 100 years. One of the Moroun family’s legal challenges even reached the Canadian Supreme Court, thanks to the family’s extensive lobbying. The Moroun family has spent years — and millions of dollars — fighting the construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, whose opening will end their monopolyon commercial truck toll revenue in the area.
On Monday, Matthew Moroun met with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Lutnick then spoke directly with Trump by phone about the matter. Within hours, the President of the United States took to social media to voice his opposition to the decades-long plan, scheduled to come to fruition in the coming days. Rather than continue with the contract in good faith, Trump threatened to block the planned opening of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor if Canadian officials did not address a long list of grievances that had suddenly become an issue for the Trump administration.
A spokesman for the Commerce Department declined to comment on the meeting with Mr. Lutnick, and a representative for Mr. Moroun’s company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Suddenly, the media now seems poised to accept Trump’s latest rant that uses the poor excuse of “trade” to overshadow the glaringly obvious personal favor Trump has shown the Moroun family.
In his first term, Trump had promoted the Gordie Howe Bridge in a joint statement with Canadian officials as a symbol of the countries’ deep ties and as “a vital economic link between two countries.” Now, Trump has shifted his focus toward self-dealing and makes no secret of his willingness to back out of critical deals for the right price. Canada has consistently been used as a scapegoat for the Trump administration, and this broken deal is no different.
“The fact that Canada will control what crosses the Gordie Howe bridge, and owns the land on both sides, is unacceptable to the president,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday in an attempt to spin Trump’s faux-narrative of being tough on Canada. “This is just another example of President Trump putting America’s interest first,” Leavitt concluded.
The Detroit Regional Chamber issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s remarks about the Gordie Howe International Bridge on Feb. 9, 2026. “The international bridge is the most consequential infrastructure project in the state and region of this generation. It will support economic growth and improve border security, and any effort to block this project would have tremendous consequences for the region, state, and country.”
While Trump’s self-serving about-face is nothing new, especially during this second term, what is unusual is the mainstream media’s complete lack of attention to such a blatant showing of self-interest and self-dealing. The Trump administration set a “nothing to see here” tone years ago, but this latest attempt to screw over Canada and Detroit in an attempt to have another rich family in Trump’s pocket seems especially egregious and matches that same entitled tone that has trickled down to ICE officials thanks to Trump’s Cabinet of sycophants.
While the “one phone call to get anything I want” has long since been a benefit given to the rich by political power players on all sides, never have we seen a time like this when the collective media was so willing to overlook it. At the very least, all coverage of this latest social media temper tantrum from Trump, where he blatantly turns on Canada, should be covered in the proper context — Trump first.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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This issue has been a thorn since its inception for the Moroun family. A bigger bunch of shysters I've never met. We did biz w/their trucking company some years ago, spent a considerable amount on materials for the project, and got cut out of it halfway through - because they decided to do it in-house instead. They paid us a fraction of what we spent on the materials... must be the DJT school of business training, huh? I voted for the Gordie Howe bridge, I lobbied for it, and I have been waiting years to see the Morouns get their just desserts. Can you tell I'm still angry?
Jesus H.