With President Trump, anything that isn’t nailed down might be grabbed and used as potential leverage. Amazingly, that includes a badly needed international bridge financed by Canada and almost finished. Threats by Mr. Trump to block traffic are bad for business, shoddy treatment of an ally, and bad politics too.
The Gordie Howe bridge will soon connect Detroit, Mich., with Windsor, Ontario. It’s crucial for commerce and will alleviate congestion at the nearby Ambassador bridge and the Windsor tunnel. Another transit link is a clear improvement, since Detroit-Windsor is a major North American commercial ecosystem, including for auto makers. Canada and Michigan will jointly own the bridge. This was negotiated a decade ago, and everyone accepted it, including Mr. Trump in a 2017 joint statement with Canada.
Yet the President suddenly intervened on Monday in an internet post. Mr. Trump complained that the bridge didn’t use enough U.S. steel and that Ontario reacted to his trade wars by boycotting American alcohol. He suggested China is conspiring to “terminate” Canadian ice hockey and “permanently eliminate” the Stanley Cup. “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated,” Mr. Trump said, demanding that Canada show “the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.”
Then came news that shortly before Mr. Trump’s social post, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had met Matthew Moroun, whose billionaire family runs the privately owned Ambassador bridge. Will it shock readers to learn Mr. Moroun isn’t a fan of the competing Gordie Howe project? The Journal reports, citing an anonymous official, that Mr. Lutnick came away skeptical of the new bridge, and he “made that clear” to Mr. Trump.
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What a political gift to Democrats, including in Michigan, where voters this November will replace Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and fill an open Senate seat. Running in the latter race is former Rep. Mike Rogers, a strong candidate for the GOP, and Democratic primary voters could nominate a real lefty. But Mr. Trump’s crony bridgegate won’t help Mr. Rogers. Democrats will say Michigan needs somebody in Washington who will stop Mr. Trump from arbitrarily closing international crossings on a random Monday for no good reason.
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