The under-construction Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Detroit to Windsor, Ont., on Tuesday.Rebecca Cook/Reuters
Everybody knows what’s happening with Donald Trump’s threat to block the opening of a Detroit-Windsor bridge. At least, everybody in the political system in Washington and Ottawa.
It’s a shakedown, with a choke point in Canada-U.S. relations as leverage. Detroit border crossings have been used that way for years. Now it’s a pretty good analogy for all of U.S. foreign policy.
That’s worth remembering when Canadians see a handful of Republicans breaking with Mr. Trump in a 219-211 vote against one set of tariffs the U.S. President has imposed on imports from Canada.
It might offer a little hope that there are cracks appearing in the political support for Mr. Trump’s tariffs wall. But the long-term lesson is still that the United States is willing to use all its leverage as a weapon.
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Only six Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives were willing to stand up and say that blatantly shaking down your neighbour is bad policy.
The tariffs in question were imposed a year ago over a non-existent flood of fentanyl being shipped from Canada to the U.S.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly made it clear that his tariffs are not about fair trade or national-security emergencies but all-round leverage. In a Truth Social post Wednesday night, he wrote that “the mere mention of the word has Countries agreeing to our strongest wishes.” There isn’t any doubt about what these tariffs are. Everyone knows.
As if to illustrate the point, he levied a new threat Monday over the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a new Windsor-Detroit border crossing currently under construction.
He suddenly declared he wouldn’t allow the new bridge to open until the U.S. has been “fully compensated” for all it has done for Canada. “With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset,” he posted on social media.
It’s an odd thing to say, partly because Mr. Trump endorsed the bridge in his first term, but also because the state of Michigan will own half of it even though Canada is paying for the whole bridge.
There is a reason why Canada paid for it all.
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In 2012, when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were in power, Ottawa set up a Crown corporation to build a bridge even though the United States wasn’t willing to pitch in money for half.
The two busiest Canada-U.S. border crossings both transit the Detroit River and one of them, the Ambassador Bridge, was owned by the late billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun – who collected tolls on every vehicle that went over it.
Importantly, Mr. Moroun was also a big backer of U.S. politicians, including then-House Speaker John Boehner. When the Harper government sought to get the U.S. to co-operate on a new bridge, they couldn’t even get it to pay for a customs plaza on the American side. The Obama administration figured it couldn’t get the funding through Congress. So Canada paid for the bridge.
More than a decade later, Mr. Trump has threatened to block the bridge’s opening. The New York Times reported it came hours after Mr. Moroun’s son, Matthew, met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The U.S. and Canada say they will resolve a dispute over the Gordie Howe International Bridge after President Trump threatened to block its opening. The clash comes amid wider trade tensions, with Michigan leaders warning a delay would carry major economic consequences.
Reuters
It’s hard to find a better symbol of Canada-U.S. relations now. Choke points are leverage, and a toll will be charged. And they will keep being used for another shakedown. Maybe a new bridge will mean a little less dependence on the old one.
Shakedowns were once more of a bug in the bilateral system, as when Canada’s interests in border logistics bumped into a powerful U.S. lobby. Now they are a feature, used broadly to collect tolls and demand compliance.
The resolution the House of Representatives passed that rejected some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs didn’t, as it happens, reject the other sets of tariffs causing more damage to Canada’s economy. The bigger point is that all those tariffs are a cheat to renege on the 2018 trade deal signed by their President and ratified by Congress.
The bare majority that voted Wednesday to oppose some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs wasn’t a sign that the whole mad policy is coming to an end soon. It was an indicator that the threats and shakedowns are not going to be completely over for a long time. They are now an established part of U.S. politics.