‘Keep it closed’: Windsor mayor doesn’t want Canada to accept ‘bad’ trade deal just to open Gordie Howe bridge

Mayor Drew Dilkens says the opening of the new Gordie Howe bridge is being held hostage by the United States. CTV Windsor’s Michelle Maluske explains.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says he doesn’t want Canada to accept a bad trade deal just to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

The new bridge is slated to open in “spring 2026,” according to bridge officials.

U.S. President Donald Trump and high-ranking Canadian politicians have indicated trade renegotiations are what’s keeping the bridge closed.

“We’ve fulfilled our end of the bargain, and now to weaponize this and to hold this bridge hostage is just a crying shame,” Dilkens said Tuesday in an interview with Meg Roberts on AM800 CKLW.

In February, Trump posted on social media that he wouldn’t allow the bridge to open unless America was “fully compensated for everything we have given them (Canada).”

The post referenced Canada’s supply-managed dairy industry and Ontario’s decision to pull American liquor off LCBO shelves.

“The citizens of the United States have elected him to be their president,” Dilkens said. “We have to deal with him for the next two and a half years.”

However, Dilkens encouraged Canadian decision-makers not to go to the White House “on bended knee” and accept a bad trade deal just to entice Trump to let the bridge open.

“If it means our country has to take a bad deal to satisfy the President of the United States, I would wait until there’s a time when there’s a good deal, because we do have lots of leverage in this country,” Dilkens said.

“And, the longer he (Trump) stays in Iran, the more important Canada’s oil becomes.”

On May 14, Federal Minister of the Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario Evan Solomon conceded ongoing trade negotiations with the United States are one factor affecting the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

“We’re having productive dialogue with the United States, but there are a lot of factors,” he said. “The bridge is one factor, trade — there are a lot of industries that are being impacted.”

The Gordie Howe International Bridge received a presidential permit in 2013 from former president Barack Obama.

Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder told CTV News that is one of two other ways Trump could delay the opening of the bridge.

“There is the presidential permit. I don’t know how revokable or not that would be,” Snyder said, noting it’s needed for any crossing within the United States.

“The other one is the staffing of the customs plaza. The customs plaza is built; it’s (an) incredible facility, just as the Canadian one (is). But if there’s no one working there, that would be a problem,” Snyder said.

CTV News has reached out to Customs and Border Protection to inquire when workers moved into the building at the Detroit Point of Entry and whether staff are currently working there.

Canada Border Services Agency officers moved into their buildings at the Gordie Howe bridge in September 2025.