American Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is denying that donations from the family that owns the Ambassador Bridge are behind the delayed opening of the new Gordie Howe Bridge.
“Absolutely not,” Hoekstra said when asked by Global News if the delay was related to a $1 million donation from billionaire Matthew Moroun — whose family owns the competing Ambassador Bridge — to Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., in January.
“The bridge was not open when it was announced a few weeks ago by mutual agreement of the Canadian government and the US government,” he said. “It has nothing to do with morons.”
A planned ribbon-cutting event last month was canceled at the request of the Americans, according to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said there were “technicalities” being worked out between Canada and the US.
The New York Times reported that Matthew Moroun met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hours before Trump tweeted in February that he could block the opening of the bridge unless the US was “compensated”.
Campaign finance records reviewed by Global News show that members of the Moroun family also made 15 separate donations worth more than $35,000 to Hoekstra during his last year in Congress, donations that Hoekstra said had no bearing on the negotiations.
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“The Morouns operate a significant business in the United States, and in the United States, companies involved in those types of businesses donate to all kinds of campaigns,” Hoekstra said. “I know they donate to Republicans and Democrats.”
A White House official told Global News last month that Trump’s position on the bridge “hasn’t changed,” despite outreach from Canadian government officials, including Carney.
The new Detroit-Windsor crossing remains closed despite the fact that Canada has paid for the entire cost of the bridge and will share ownership with Michigan. Hoekstra believes this is not good enough.
“The Americans are contributing significantly more than half of the revenue they’re going to pay, yet Canada funded this,” he said, adding that “it’s being paid for by revenue that comes from the Ambassador Bridge, which is a 100 percent American-owned company.”
Despite his complaints, Hoekstra remains optimistic about the bridge’s future. “We can reach an agreement on this bridge that is not tied to the larger CUSMA negotiations,” he said. “I am optimistic that we will open the bridge relatively soon.”
No warranty will be excluded by CUSMA
Hoekstra’s optimism fades when it comes to ongoing trade negotiations and the renewal of the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
“Maybe there’s been some progress, but not the significant amount of progress that says, ‘OK, we know exactly where we’re going, now let’s fill in the details,'” Hoekstra said.
Canada has yet to hold formal negotiations with the US, which has already held several meetings with its Mexican counterparts.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has routinely pointed out that Canada has the best deal with the U.S. because of tariff exemptions on free trade products — something the ambassador would not guarantee would continue.
“I’m not able to guarantee anything. These decisions are made in the White House. They are made by the president,” Hoekstra said.
His comments come just days after the Trump administration refused to extend the trilateral pact with Canada and Mexico for a new 16-year term, citing what the US calls “shortcomings” and “trade deficits”. Mexico and Canada publicly called for a renewal.
US President Donald Trump suggested last month that the US is “better off without” CUSMA and that he would even prefer to see it “ended”.
When asked by Global News, Hoekstra would not say whether the administration is considering terminating the agreement, which can be done by either side with six months’ formal notice.
“All options are on the table,” Hoekstra said. “(Termination) is clearly permitted within the agreement.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
