In a revealing episode that underscores former President Donald Trump’s economic instincts, he threatened to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Michigan and Ontario, a project set to provide a faster, cheaper alternative for cross-border commerce. According to reports, Trump’s intervention came after a meeting between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Matthew Moroun, the billionaire owner of the competing, privately-held Ambassador Bridge. For decades, Moroun’s monopoly on truck crossings has allowed for expensive tolls and congestion, leading Michigan’s former Republican Governor Rick Snyder to broker a deal in 2012 where Canada fully financed a new, publicly-owned bridge. With its completion, Trump’s sudden demand for compensation and „respect” from Canada—based on false claims about construction materials and ownership—appears to be a direct effort to protect Moroun’s rent-seeking fortune at the expense of broader economic benefits.
This incident serves as a stark case study in Trump’s pre-capitalistic economic worldview, which consistently prioritizes the interests of wealthy oligarchs over the public good. Rather than embracing the positive-sum gains of free exchange, Trump operates with a mercantilist, zero-sum mentality, seeking to hoard power and extract tribute. By siding with a single billionaire whose business model relies on stifling competition, Trump actively shrinks the overall economic pie, harming consumers and businesses on both sides of the border who stand to save billions from the new bridge. His fabricated grievances and irrational demands, as echoed by his press secretary, reveal a pattern of policy driven by personal loyalty and sleaze rather than rational economic analysis.
Ultimately, Trump’s threat to halt the bridge opening—despite its terms already granting the U.S. half-ownership and its construction using American materials—highlights his disdain for institutional fairness and his preference for backroom deals. The episode underscores how his leadership often translates into protecting rent-seekers who contribute to his political ecosystem, even when it means undermining infrastructure that would widely boost trade and efficiency. As the bridge awaits opening, this confrontation stands as a symbol of how Trump’s atavistic approach to governance sacrifices broad-based prosperity for the benefit of a privileged few, damaging international relations and economic logic in the process.
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Forrás: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/trump-detroit-windsor-bridge/685967/.