Bridge owner donated $1mn weeks before Donald Trump attacked rival, filing shows

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Less than a month after the billionaire owners of the Ambassador Bridge donated $1mn to a Super Pac supporting Donald Trump, the president threatened to shut down a rival bridge that also connects Canada to the US. 

Filings released on Friday night show Matthew Moroun, whose company operates the 100-year-old bridge that connects Michigan and Ontario, on January 16 gave $1mn to Maga Inc, a Trump-affiliated Super Pac.

In a post on Truth Social on February 9, Trump took aim at the rival Gordie Howe International Bridge — which is set to open this year and connects the auto hubs of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario — claiming it had been built with “virtually no US content”.

“I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” he wrote.

The White House and the Super Pac denied there was any link between the donation and Trump’s outburst.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai on Friday said “the only special interest guiding President Trump’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people”.

“Infrastructure being built over America’s border that connects Canada’s $2.3tn economy to America’s $30tn economy should first and foremost benefit America and Americans.”

“Donations to MAGA Inc have no bearing on government policy and any suggestion otherwise is falsely making a connection where it does not exist,” said Maga Inc spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer.

The Morouns are longtime Republican donors who have battled for years to shut down the rival bridge, as they fear a loss of toll income from an alternative route for Canada-US travel.

Moroun gave more than $400,000 to Republican Pacs and candidates in 2025, including $250,000 to the Republican National Committee, according to federal filings. He also donated $750,000 to support Trump’s 2020 campaign.

Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns and runs the Ambassador Bridge, has paid Ballard Partners, a Washington firm with deep ties to the Trump administration, more than $3mn to lobby on transportation regulation since 2018, according to Senate lobbying filings.

Trump’s threat to block the opening of the bridge came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed with China last month to lower tariffs on 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles a year in exchange for Beijing reducing levies on Canadian agricultural products, including lobster and canola.

In the social media post, Trump lashed out at Carney for wanting to “make a deal with China”. Trump is expected to travel to China at the end of March.

The following day Carney told reporters in Ottawa that Canada paid C$4bn ($2.9bn) for the construction of the bridge that was built by workers with steel from both countries and has joint ownership.

“This is a great example of co-operation between our countries. I look forward to its opening,” he said. 

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib, said they were investigating Moroun’s lobbying of Trump over the Gordie Howe Bridge. The New York Times recently reported that Moroun had met with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick hours before Trump’s social media post.

“President Trump’s wealthy donors should not be holding secret meetings with administration officials to influence economic and foreign policies that have real impacts on the American people,” said Garcia this week.

 The FT has approached the Moroun family for comment. 

Super Pacs such as Maga Inc can raise unlimited funds but cannot co-ordinate directly with campaigns. They are used to support Trump’s agenda, operating independently of both his formal campaign staff and the traditional Republican Party infrastructure.

The Morouns tried to block construction of the rival bridge in court. In 2017, a DC court affirmed a lower court judge’s decision dismissing the Morouns’ attempt to have a crossing agreement for the Gordie Howe International Bridge declared invalid.