{"id":787828,"date":"2026-07-27T19:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/787828\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T19:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:10:11","slug":"u-s-canada-bridge-opens-in-detroit-as-trade-disputes-test-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/787828\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-Canada bridge opens in Detroit as trade disputes test ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"anchor-f9454b\" class=\"body-graf\">A major <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/canada-us-border-bridge-detroit-howe-8e63c2358f3350b1d493aa3bc80b8be2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">new bridge<\/a> linking Canada and the U.S. at Detroit opened Monday to trucks, cars and other vehicles, the climax of a yearslong project that lately had been bruised a bit by international politics.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-55e92f\" class=\"body-graf\">Descendants of Gordie Howe, the hockey legend whose name is on the bridge, were among the first to cross over the Detroit River, which separates the Motor City from Windsor, Ontario.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-308fb0\" class=\"body-graf\">The span, which was built by Canada at a cost of $6.4 billion Canadian, now becomes a less-expensive alternative to the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-6cd6852a880a58a48ce7a0458afae17b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">privately owned Ambassador Bridge<\/a>, which had a monopoly on big trucks carrying goods worth billions between the two countries, especially in service to the auto industry.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-aeb47b\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThere are thousands of trucks that go over\u201d daily, said Kevin Ketels, a business professor who teaches supply chain management at Wayne State University.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260727-geordie-howe-bridge-family-mn-1420-be5da4.jpg\" alt=\"The Gordie Howe International Bridge that connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, prior to its opening for vehicular traffic on July 27, 2026.\" height=\"1200\" width=\"1800\"\/>The family of Gordie Howe have the honor of making the first official car crossing over the bridge Monday.Bill Pugliano \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3142ae\" class=\"body-graf\">Freddie Garrett, 81, said he regularly watched construction \u201cever since they put the foundation in\u201d back in 2018. So naturally he showed up at Delray Park in Detroit to see the first vehicles moving overhead.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-33dbbb\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIt was amazing to see how they did it,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cThey put up one section at a time and then they met together in the middle. I\u2019m sure it will be there longer than I\u2019ll be around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a2efaf\" class=\"body-graf\">Last week, Canada celebrated the Gordie Howe International Bridge with a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/canada-detroit-new-bridge-4b22dc7fc282467a363a247fe590f334\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ribbon-cutting ceremony<\/a> in Windsor. U.S. and Michigan representatives were uninvited after President Donald Trump suddenly announced <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-canada-50-tariff-autos-alcohol-cheese-ca268ef24992b16695954c4c2e5eae6a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">50% tariffs on Canadian goods<\/a> entering America.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-283eaa\" class=\"body-graf\">More than 70% of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-tariffs-canada-great-depression-trade-ece841a9c029d20be16c065f9a0eccfc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canada\u2019s exports<\/a> go to the U.S., making America its largest trade partner, and Detroit is the No. 1 port for truck traffic on the U.S.-Canada border, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bts.gov\/newsroom\/transborder-freight-data-annual-report-2025-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the U.S. Department of Transportation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9b5dc0\" class=\"body-graf\">The span is 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and rises 151 feet (46 meters) above the river at its highest point. Pedestrians and bicyclists will be able to cross it for free, starting Aug. 5.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-57c489\" class=\"body-graf\">Howe is a Canadian icon known as <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-db8f8a7791eb428e88520d35c974dca9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cMr. Hockey\u201d<\/a> who wore No. 9 while playing for the NHL\u2019s Detroit Red Wings. He died in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260727-gordie-howe-detroit-red-wings-mn-1445-561c54.jpg\" alt=\"Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings warms up before a game in 1968.\" height=\"1445\" width=\"1800\"\/>Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings warms up before a game in 1968.George Long \/ Sports Illustrated via Getty Images file<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d2c4eb\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">A recent agreement between Canada and the Trump administration says Canada will share some toll revenue with the U.S. government for 15 years. Michigan separately negotiated a share in 2012, but it won\u2019t be paid until Canada\u2019s costs are recovered, likely decades from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major new bridge linking Canada and the U.S. at Detroit opened Monday to trucks, cars and other&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-787828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}