The updated deal Canada struck with the White House to get the Gordie Howe Bridge open will share some revenues from tolls immediately, but only after the operational costs to run the bridge are deducted, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.
And, Carney insisted, initially there won’t be much left over to share.
But the arrangement does mean Canada will not keep 100 per cent of the revenues until the cost of building the bridge is paid back, as was the deal Ottawa signed in 2012 with former Michigan governor Rick Snyder, a Republican.
Under that deal, Canada agreed to shoulder the full $6.4 billion cost of building the bridge, but Canada and Michigan would share ownership of the bridge, and once the construction debt was paid off, including interest, the two would split the toll revenues.
The plan was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term.
But a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for last month was delayed after the Trump administration sought to renegotiate the plan following pushback from the billionaire Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge and is a significant Republican donor.
Trump announced last week that the bridge will open July 27 under a new agreement. Neither country has published its terms and confusion around the new deal has run rampant over the last week.
During a defence-related announcement in London, Ont., on Thursday Carney was asked to clarify the new plan, and why Canada agreed to start sharing revenues before the debt was repaid.
“It’s not splitting the tolls of the bridge. It is an agreement for 15 years to split net revenues. Splitting of tolls — any sharing of the toll revenue — won’t happen until all of the debt, all of the debt is repaid,” he said.
“We will split net revenues over the course of the first 15 years, and those net revenues are after operational costs, so it’s manning the toll booths, it’s maintenance, it’s snow removal — a series of other operational costs.”
Carney said his government expects that “after those costs for the first few years, net revenues will be modest. In fact, we expect them to be negative as traffic ramps up. So negative to modest in the first few years.”
“The underlying agreement that we have with Michigan remains the same, and so no sharing of tolls until all the debt is repaid,” he later added.
But it was still unclear what Carney meant when he said we’d be sharing toll revenues but not tolls, until the debt was repaid.
The Canadian Press sought further explanation from the Prime Minister’s Office, and a spokesperson said the new deal will mean that once the bridge opens, for the first 15 years, whatever revenues remain from tolls after the cost of operating the bridge is deducted, will be split 50-50 with the U.S.
The U.S. portion will go into a regional economic development program in Michigan, while Canada can use its share to repay the construction debt.
After 15 years, that plan will end and the deal signed with Michigan initially will be all that remains – that all toll revenues will go to Canada until the full construction cost is repaid. After that the toll revenues will be split with Michigan.
The spokesperson would not speak to what would happen in a hypothetical situation where the debts are repaid before the 15 years is up.
Carney said Canada will benefit from the Trump administration’s plan to invest the U.S. share of the revenue in a regional economic development fund. He said this will increase bridge traffic and profits.
“It’s a good deal for Canada, good for the U.S. and it’s great for both countries to have this bridge open. We’re looking forward to it.”
Conservative MPs in Canada have accused Carney of capitulating to Trump,
“Our people demand answers,” wrote Shuv Majumdar, the Conservative critic for Canada-U.S. relations, in a letter to Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc on July 12.
He demanded Carney release the full text of the agreement.
“We took on the risk and the cost,” he wrote. “We deserve to recover our money.”
A White House official speaking on background told The Canadian Press Trump signed a deal that will see bridge revenue flow to the United States before Canada fully recoups its costs.
Trump’s officials also have said that the deal gives it toll-setting authority so that the U.S. can deny Canada the ability to increase or decrease tolls more than 10 per cent — effectively giving Washington a veto on any attempt to make taking the bridge cheaper than using the existing Ambassador Bridge.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2026.
— Written by Dylan Robertson in Ottawa, with files from Maan Alhmidi in London, Ont. and Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington.
By The Canadian Press | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.