Gordie Howe bridge opening scuttled after Trump officials pushed back (www.detroitnews.com)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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Two top Trump advisers privately pushed back this week on plans to open the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge, according to three sources familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had been appointed by President Donald Trump to lead discussions with the Canadians about opening the $4.7, six-lane span between Michigan and Ontario, citing “outstanding issues” that require resolution.

...

Trump's comments followed the revelation of a meeting between Lutnick and Matthew Moroun, the billionaire owner of the Ambassador Bridge, whose private crossing will face the first competition for lucrative truck traffic in the Ambassador's 97 years of operation.

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[-] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

For those who don't know about the bridge, Canada has been pushing this for a while but matty moroun always ~~bribed~~ "lobbied" the Michigan government to keep it from happening until the point that Canada offered to pay for All Of It and collect all the tolls, and even then moroun almost got them to turn down the deal.

Now that it's finally done Moroun is trying to get trump to demand they get a percentage of the tolls or they'll get tarrifed or worse.

[-] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 months ago

It's a just a racket. Use your power to force bribes. How we were convinced America wasn't as corrupt as Russia is a master class in social engineering.