Windsor (Canada) (AFP) – Canada quietly inaugurated a border bridge with the United States on its own on Friday, after cancelling a joint ceremony following this week’s announcement of new US tariffs on several Canadian products. “This bridge is a testament to what we can build when we work together,” Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson told a ceremony on the Canadian side of the bridge, which opens to traffic on Monday.
“Our relationship has been challenged over the last few years,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said of US-Canada ties, but added: “Let’s keep working together.” US President Donald Trump marked the occasion with a social media post and a combative tone. “Canada disinvited the United States of America to the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which is fine, considering they are paying substantial TARIFFS to the United States,” he said in a post on Truth Social. He added: “We changed the terms of the Deal so the United States of America now gets 50% of the Profit.”
The 2.5-km (1.5-mile) bridge connects the US city of Detroit and Canada’s Windsor, and is named after Canadian-born ice hockey great Gordie Howe, who played for US teams. The CAN$6.4 billion ($4.5 billion) cost of its construction, begun in 2018, was fully financed by Canada. Trump on Monday ordered a 50-percent duty on many Canadian goods to take effect in 30 days.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was looking at “all options” in response to the new levies, and that he and Trump had agreed to “intensify discussions” in the upcoming weeks. Carney then faced sharp criticism following Tuesday’s release of a proposed agreement on financial management of the bridge, deemed highly favorable to the US side. The terms stipulate that Canada will make payments into a US economic development fund of the equivalent of 50 percent of net revenue generated by the bridge for a period of 15 years.
But on Thursday, Carney said revenue sharing would only apply to funds left over after Canada has first met its periodic debt service obligations for the building of the bridge, under terms of a 2012 deal that “remains in place.” “This is a good deal,” Carney told reporters. “I should have been clearer.” In February, Trump threatened to fully block the bridge, insisting the United States had been treated unfairly in its construction and that it should be “at least half” US-owned.
© 2024 AFP
