Matthew Moroun, whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., for decades, met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick just hours before U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of the nearby Gordie Howe International Bridge, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Sources told The Times that Lutnick spoke with Trump by phone about the matter after the meeting with Moroun. The president would post his threats about not allowing the bridge to open just before 6 p.m. ET on Monday.
The Moroun family has made numerous efforts to stop the construction of another bridge between Windsor and Detroit. Matthew’s father, Manuel “Matty” Moroun, who died in 2020, publicly appealed to Trump during his first term in 2018 to revoke a presidential permit that former U.S. president Barack Obama granted to greenlight construction of the Gordie Howe Bridge.
Tammy Ebrahimpour, CTVNews.ca digital producer