Trump Threatens to Illegally Block Opening of US-Canada Bridge He Previously Supported to Punish Canada and/or Help a Local Billionaire

In yet another social media rant, Donald Trump threatened to block traffic across a new bridge that is being built from Canada to Michigan—a project Trump himself backed in his first term. Trump is now saying:

I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump wrote. “We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY.

With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the U.S. Market will be astronomical.

The New York Times reports also that Trump’s reversal happened after his trade secretary’s meeting with a local billionaire, who stands to lose if the bridge is opened:

Matthew Moroun is a Detroit-based trucking magnate whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, for decades. He met on Monday with [Secretary of Commerce Howard] Lutnick in Washington, according to two officials briefed on the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

After that meeting Mr. Lutnick spoke with Mr. Trump by phone about the matter, the officials said.

Shortly afterward, Mr. Trump threatened to block the planned opening of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, which would take away toll revenue from Mr. Moroun’s crossing, if Canadian officials did not address a long list of grievances.

The Moroun family has for decades mounted legal challenges to block or delay the competing project, known as Gordie Howe International Bridge. One of the challenges reached the Canadian Supreme Court, while the family has also lobbied extensively against it. …

It was not immediately clear how Mr. Trump would block the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which remains under construction.

Actually, it is clear Trump has no legal authority to do this. Whatever the reason for Trump’s threats—shaking down Canada or obliging a billionaire, or both—it is clear that he will stop at nothing to abuse his authority.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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