Text of Gordie Howe Bridge deal with U.S. contradicts Carney’s initial description

People fish in the Detroit River in front of the Gordie Howe International Bridge in June 2026. Photo by Jeff Kowalsky /Bloomberg

Article content

OTTAWA – The new revenue-sharing deal between Canada and the United States for the Gordie Howe International Bridge was released Tuesday evening after criticism over lack of transparency and conflicting messaging from the prime minister.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

According to the agreement, Canada will give the U.S. 50 per cent of net revenues for the first 15 years, after recovering operating costs. The U.S. share will go into a United States-Canada Economic Development Fund, which will be controlled by the U.S. government.

Article content

Article content

The details come 10 days after the federal government announced the agreement. Missing from the document released on Tuesday is any reference to Canada recouping debt-servicing costs, which had been an issue of conflicting comments from Canadian and American officials.

Article content

Article content

Canada fully financed the construction of the bridge that connects Windsor, Ont., to Detroit, at a cost of $6.4 billion.

Article content

But soon after, Bloomberg News reported that a U.S. official contradicted those terms, saying that interest costs will not be included in the calculation.

Article content

Article content

Article content

On Saturday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick boasted on social media that the deal would give the U.S. half of net revenues until 2041, and “Our share is before interest and principal.”

Article content

The agreement also confirmed Lutnick’s comments that the U.S. gets a “say in setting the tolls,” specifying that Canada must direct the WDBA to inform and get consent from the U.S. government if toll rate increases exceed 10 per cent in a single fiscal year or if toll rates decrease “below the average of comparable regional crossings.”

Article content

The bridge began construction in 2018 to address the congestion on the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, which handles just over a quarter of all Canada-U.S. trade.

Article content

An agreement that was struck with Michigan in 2012 originally stipulated that Canada was to receive all the toll revenue until it could recover its financing costs, including interest, after which revenues would be shared. Michigan and Canada are joint owners of the bridge.

Article content

In June, U.S. President Donald Trump blocked the opening of the bridge, on the basis that the original deal was unfair to the U.S. The Windsor mayor, among many others, had said the obstruction came as a result of lobbying efforts by the Maroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge, which stands to lose toll revenue to a competing trade route.