Howard Lutnick claims U.S. scored major win in Carney’s Gordie Howe Bridge deal
Neither Canada nor the U.S. has released the contentious bridge agreement.
As confusion swirls over Mark Carney’s bridge deal with Washington, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is taking a victory lap over what he says America won.
“The USA struck a great deal on the Gordie Howe Bridge,” Lutnick wrote Saturday. “Before this deal we got NOTHING. Now, the U.S. gets 50% of net revenues until 2041 and a say in setting the tolls. Our share is before interest and principal.”
He called it the “Art of the Deal in action,” invoking the title of Donald Trump’s 1987 memoir.
Lutnick’s comments appear to reinforce reporting by Bloomberg that Canada agreed to give the U.S. half of the bridge’s net revenue for the first 15 years of operation under a side agreement struck to end the Trump administration’s opposition to the project.
Canada paid the full $6.4 billion to build the bridge and says it will keep all toll revenue until the debt is repaid under the original Canada-Michigan agreement. The new side deal separately gives the U.S. half of net proceeds for 15 years.
The bridge is set to open Jul. 27 after a Jul. 24 opening ceremony.
