Who owns the Ambassador Bridge? New report links owner Matthew Moroun to Trump’s threat

Questions around who owns the Ambassador Bridge and its influence on cross border politics are resurfacing after a new report links the bridge’s billionaire owner to events preceding US President Donald Trump’s threat to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

According to the New York Times, Matthew Moroun, the Detroit based billionaire whose family owns and operates the Ambassador Bridge, meets with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick just hours before Trump posts on social media that he may halt the opening of the publicly funded Gordie Howe Bridge.

Sources tell the NYT that Lutnick later speaks with Trump by phone, and the president posts his comments shortly before 06:00 PM ET on Monday.

According to CTV News, the development comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed he spoke directly with Trump, telling him Canada paid “over $4 billion” to build the bridge and that it is jointly owned with the state of Michigan.

The Moroun family has long opposed the construction of a second bridge between Windsor and Detroit.

Matthew Moroun’s father, Manuel “Matty” Moroun, previously urged Trump in 2018 to revoke a presidential permit issued under former president Barack Obama that allowed the Gordie Howe Bridge to proceed.