Ok, this is a new twist. Republican Senatorial candidate Mike Rogers says, “
My argument was, let’s use the bridge opening as an opportunity to stop Canada from hurting American automobile workers.” (?) That said, Rogers told a
Detroit radio station this week that the critical span between Detroit and Windsor should remain closed for up to another six months if Canada does not acquiesce to Trump’s demands.
““
If we have this bridge open two months, three months, six months later, and we win a significant concession from Canada about these Chinese cars, that’s significant for auto workers right here in the state in keeping their jobs. That’s worth having a little scuffle over.”
He concluded: “
It is no money out of our pocket having that bridge closed for another six months” and “
Canada paid for the Gordie Howe bridge but U.S. Senate hopeful says it 'was not a great deal for us'”
“He told Detroit News: “When Canada was trying to allow a huge number of Chinese cars to be brought into Canada, they took the tariffs from 100 per cent down to 6 per cent, and I think they’ve upped their quota to 70,000 on all 100 per cent Chinese-made cars to be able to be brought into Canada.”
(Canada’s annual quota of Chinese-made electric vehicles is in fact 49,000 at a tariff rate of 6.1% per cent but the plan is for that cap to reach 70,000 over five years.”)
Rogers continued: “
My argument was, let’s use the bridge opening as an opportunity to stop Canada from hurting American automobile workers.”
“The seeming contradiction in timing was enough for
Detroit Metro Times to run its coverage under the headline: “Mike Rogers wants the Gordie Howe bridge open except when he doesn’t.”
In his Q&A with Detroit News, Rogers also said of the bridge: “It was not a great deal for us. We’ll never see any revenue from that thing, from what people around the bridge tell me, for a long time. One hundred years, someone told me. Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s breathtaking, that part.”
(The government of Canada,
which paid for construction of the bridge in its entirety, expects to recoup its investment over the next 36 years, according to information from the
U.S. Department of Transportation” at which time it’s then share revenue between Canada and Michigan)
“
Much has been made of the role in the dispute by the Moroun family, which owns the existing Ambassador crossing and paid $1 million into a Trump fund prior to the president saying he wanted the bridge to remain closed. But Rogers said the issue for him is purely about Chinese electric vehicles and Michigan jobs, and that
he hasn’t spoken to Matthew Moroun, head of the family.”
Last week,
in the wake of a planned opening on June 12 that was scuttled at the last minute, Democratic Senate hopeful Mallory McMorrow released a campaign ad which included “one message for the president: Open this damn bridge. And you’d better believe I approve this message.”
'Let's use the bridge opening as an opportunity to stop Canada from hurting American automobile workers,' says Mike Rogers
apple.news
Mike Rogers has secured Trump's backing and has campaigned as a strong proponent of the Trump administration's agenda, including the tariff regime and border security policies. Rogers has also publicly defended Trump's controversial trade and border maneuvers, such as threats regarding the Gordie Howe International Bridge, arguing they provide necessary leverage for trade negotiations.
He is making a run for U.S. Senate in the 2026 election. A former FBI agent, he served in the Michigan State Senate from 1995 to 2001 and then spent 14 years as a Congressman for the state. A victory this year would make him the first Republican to capture a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan since 1994.
The president's backing of Rogers came a day after GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga, who had been seriously mulling a Senate run in Michigan, announced that he would not launch a 2026 Senate campaign after consultations with Trump.
Huizenga's announcement and Trump's ensuing endorsement helped clear the field for Rogers, who is making his second straight
bid for the Senate.
Probably just a coincidence.
Mike Rogers has found a new position on the Gordie Howe International Bridge. All of them.
www.metrotimes.com
Put Mike Roger’s in a commercial vehicle, & have him cross that border at Ambassador Bridge four times in one day. Twice into Canada and twice back into the US, knowing that if he exceeds the HOS (Hours of Service) for either country that he’s gonna get financially punished. 
