Construction on the 1.5-mile-long, six-lane bridge – named after the Canadian hockey star who played for the Detroit Redwings – began in 2018, carried out by a design-build consortium of Flatiron-Dragados, Aecon, and Fluor, with Aecom providing design.
That same year, Trump negotiated and signed the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement, which clarified the regulatory framework for, among other sectors, the three countries’ auto manufacturing industries, which are highly integrated across both borders of the US.
In the north, although Windsor is in Canada across the Detroit River, it and Detroit function as one city when it comes to car-making, with components crossing the border up to seven times in the process of building a car, WSJ noted.
One old bridge now
Currently, the main connection is the Ambassador Bridge, a privately-owned structure built in 1929. It’s the single busiest US-Canada border crossing for goods, carrying nearly a quarter of all commercial truck traffic between the two countries in 2011, according to Transport Canada.
But owing to its age and capacity, the Canadian government sees it as a potential choke point for vital trade flows, so it’s funding the Gordie Howe bridge to ensure goods can flow fast enough.
It had planned to recoup its costs through tolls. In 2010, the Michigan Department of Transportation calculated that by 2035 the new bridge would be collecting $108.5m a year.
But on 20 January this year, on his first day in office, Trump announced 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada. They came into effect on 3 April.
‘Detroit-Windsor is ground zero’
Up to 40% of parts used in Michigan auto plants come from Canada, Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association in Canada, told Detroit TV station WXYZ when the tariffs were first announced.
“Ground zero for the impact of a 25% tariff in automotive is Detroit-Windsor,” Volpe said.
“All of these companies getting hit with a tariff when it crosses the border means all of them will be operating at a loss, and how long can you do that?”
Mike Wall, auto analyst at S&P Global Mobility, told the station: “The suppliers and the supply chain can not weather a 25% tariff.”
A day after Trump’s tariffs came into effect, Stellantis, maker of Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge vehicles among others, idled its minivan plant in Windsor for two weeks, WSJ reports.
The company said the pause could affect parts-making plants in the US.
Not just cars
“All of that, inevitably, is going to impact traffic,” WSJ reporter Vipal Monga said, adding this calls Canada’s expected toll revenues from the bridge into question.
It’s not just cars and their parts, either. Traffic in all goods hit by tariffs on Canada, and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on the US, can be expected to decline in the full-scale trade war Trump started.
And another expected source of toll revenue – people in their cars – also looks shaky.
In March, after Trump’s oft-stated ambition to annex Canada, the number of trips Canadians made to the US by car fell 32%, CBC reports.
“You could end up in a scenario where Canada has footed the bill for a major bridge that ends up being a bit of a white elephant,” WSJ’s Monga said.
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Deck completed on Gordie Howe Bridge between Canada and US Gordie Howe bridge is $700m over budget and 10 months lateWill Trump’s tariffs make a white elephant of Canada’s new bridge to Detroit? Global Construction Review.
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