Photo credit: Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
‘Self-Defeating’: Trump’s Gordie Howe Bridge Threat Upsets Businesses
February 19, 2026
The Detroit News
February 10, 2026
Luke Ramseth, Candice Williams, Grant Schwab
President Donald Trump’s threat to prevent the new Gordie Howe International Bridge from opening drew sharp rebukes Tuesday from several powerful business groups on both sides of the border — though Michigan’s big automakers and suppliers have thus far stayed mostly quiet over the controversy.
Sandy K. Baruah, who heads the Detroit Regional Chamber, called the bridge project spanning Detroit and Windsor “the most consequential infrastructure project in the state and region of this generation,” adding that blocking it would “have tremendous consequences for the region, state and country.”
The new bridge is primed to accelerate business growth, he said, especially in automotive, manufacturing and agriculture. The project, which for years garnered bipartisan backing, finished major construction in 2025 and is in the testing and commissioning phase ahead of an expected opening early this year.