"[Prime Minister Mark Carney has] negotiated a terrible deal for Canada."

"We took the risk and the cost. We deserve to recover our money."

"What precisely will be divided? Gross toll revenues, operating profit, net profit after expenses after Canada has fully recovered its investment?"

Conservative Canada-U.S trade critic Shuvaloy Majundar

 

"I'm happy the bridge is going to be open. We need it. We need it because we're expanding."

"The word 'net' does a lot of work in this. We are sharing after Canada is paid back. We get the revenues. Then the servicing of the costs of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge, and then what's left over, there's a split of that for 15 years." 

"We are sharing after Canada is paid back. It's manning the toll booths, it's maintenance, it's snow removal, a series of other operational costs. So we get the revenues, then the servicing of the cost of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge."

"And then what's left over, there's a split of that for 15 years."

"There's not going to be a lot of net to split. It's a good deal for Canada." 

Prime Minister Mark Carney 

 

"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." (February) 

"The new deal is great, and fair. Thank you and congratulations to the Canadian Government."

"May we both have many years of success with this wonderful new development."  (July)

"I was able to cut a MUCH BETTER DEAL for America, and by so doing, will be allowing the new and spectacular Gordie Howe International Bridge, spanning Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to open on July 27th, as scheduled. The original deal made was unacceptable to me! The new deal is great and fair." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

Gordie Howe International Bridge

 

Under the original agreement between Canada and Michigan which was signed as a contract in 2012, Canada, which paid for the construction of the $6.4 billion bridge, offered half ownership to Michigan. The contract stipulated that Canada would collect bridge tolls until such time as the capital costs expended by Canada were recouped. Following that, bridge toll revenues would be evenly split between Canada and Michigan. Because President Trump vetoed that understanding, a new, opaque agreement was reached to satisfy U.S. demands.

 

"Mark Carney's capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe Bridge is awful for Canada", commented opposition MP Andrew Lawton. While MP for Calgary Heritage Shuv Majumdar named it as "a terrible deal for Canada". He had written to Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc that the full agreement be released before the official bridge opening on July 27, so that the those who paid for the bridge -- Canadian taxpayers -- would be in possession of "a complete account of what was given away, what was received, and the true cost of this deal". 

 

An American official, reported Bloomberg News, contradicted Mr. Carney's statements; interest costs are not to be included in the calculation. In 2018 a bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit went under construction, although the owners of the long standing Ambassador Bridge made every attempt beforehand to stall and stop the initiative that would compete with the revenues they had long received as the sole bridge handling over a quarter of all trucked Canada-U.S. trade. 

 

Gordie Howe International Bridge from Detroit, Detroit Free Press

 

And while Mr. Carney stated no split of toll revenue would occur  until the debt is fully repaid, U.S. President Trump in February announced the terms of the deal did not pass muster with him as final arbiter, eventually blocking a June opening ceremony following completion of construction. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is credited with bringing the president around to that opinion. The Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge had the ear of the Trump administration. All the more so as significant $1-million contributors to Trump's MAGA campaign. 

"I'm proud to have fought for its opening and congratulate my partners who have worked on this issue alongside me for years."

"This bridge is a testament to the enduring partnership between Michigan and Canada and what we can et done when we think big and bet on our shared future together."

"Thank you to our allies in Canada and to the Michiganders who advocated for years to get this done."

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer 

 Trump's tariffs have disrupted trade flows between the U.S. and Canada, but not entirely. There was an exchange of some $880 billion in goods and services in 2025, slightly diminished by about five percent less than the year before. While many Canadians have taken to boycotting recreational travel to the United States in protest of the tariffs as well as the U.S. president's anti-Canadian rhetoric, not to mention his constant musings and urges over the '51st State', these conditions may presage a lighter traffic flow than originally envisioned.

 

President Trump on Tuesday reposted an image with himself in the Oval Office surrounded by other world leaders, obviously produced by AI. A map of North America appears in the image, with the U.S. Stars and Stripes imposed over Canada and Greenland.  

 

 

 

"Perhaps Canada's willingness to pay a bribe was the correct thing to do in the short term, but signing long-term deals with the U.S. on anything has suffered an additional blow."

"[The opening was a] plus for commerce, but] it's bad for credibility, faith in contracts and a system of law and order, the viability of making long-term deals with the U.S., and democracy. It's blatantly unfair and commingles donor politics with commerce once again."

"Canadians have a right to know the full details, like was the Moroun family paid off somehow in the murky language of shared proceeds?"

Derek Holt, vice-president, head of capital markets economics, Scotiabank, Toronto