The Ambassador Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1929, is the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada. The suspension bridge, which connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, saw the most trucks cross for decades, and handled more than 25% of all trade traffic between the two nations.
In 2026, a new connection across the Detroit River, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, was expected to open and add additional capacity to the key shipping route.
But U.S. President Donald Trump was refusing to let the new bridge open, according to a campaign advertisement from Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate. According to McMorrow, it's because the Moroun family, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, "gave him a million bucks."
Snopes readers wrote in asking whether McMorrow's claim was true.
There are two parts to the claim at play here — first, whether Trump has blocked the opening of the bridge, and second, whether that's because he received $1 million from the Moroun family.
The first claim is true, according to a statement from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The second is only speculation, based on suspicious timing and reporting from a reliable source. It's also worth clarifying that the $1 million donation from the Moroun family went to a Trump-affiliated super PAC.
For these reasons, we've rated this a mixture of true and undetermined information.
We contacted the White House and the Commerce Department for comment on the story but had not heard back from either by publication.
The Detroit-Windsor corridor
There are two ways to get between Detroit and Windsor via car: the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which connects the cities' downtowns, and the Ambassador Bridge, which is around two miles downriver.
But truckers have no choice in the matter, because the tunnel doesn't allow large trucks. They must use the Ambassador Bridge, one of the only privately owned border crossings in the nation. It's owned by the Moroun family, who purchased a majority share in the bridge in the late 1970s through the New York Stock Exchange.
That makes the bridge a critical trucking corridor between the two nations. But its original land-side connections sent traffic down regular streets in both Windsor and in Detroit.
The U.S. upgraded its side of the bridge to connect with Interstates 75 and 96 (in a contentious process that involved Matty Moroun, the family patriarch, going to jail for ignoring court orders to build the on-ramps) in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
The fight to build the Gordie Howe International Bridge
Building a connection from the Ambassador Bridge to Ontario's freeway network wasn't as feasible, however, so the Canadian government began exploring the option of building a new bridge. The state of Michigan quickly got on board.
The Morouns vehemently opposed any new bridge because an alternative route would slash their toll revenue. They proposed building a second span to the Ambassador Bridge (nothing came of it, even after they received a permit), sued the U.S. and Canadian governments (the lawsuit was dismissed) and funded a ballot measure that would require voters across Michigan and affected municipalities to vote on any new international border crossing (it failed).
In Canada, where traffic was a major problem, officials were insistent about a new bridge, and when Michigan Republicans waffled about paying for it, the Canadians offered to pay for all of it. The bridge will be partly owned by both Michigan and Canada, but in exchange the Canadians will get the bridge's toll revenue until they recoup the construction costs.
The bridge was officially named after Howe, a legendary Canadian hockey player who spent 25 years playing in Detroit, in 2015. Construction started in 2018 and was all but finished by the end of 2025. The bridge was set to open sometime in early 2026.
Report of conversation after donation
Trump actually endorsed the construction of the bridge in 2017, over complaints from the Morouns.
But he changed his tune after construction was essentially finished, threatening to delay or otherwise prevent the bridge from opening in a post on his social media platform Truth Social in February 2026.
Hours earlier, according to The New York Times, Matthew Moroun, son of Matty, met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss the bridge. Lutnick then immediately called Trump about it. (Snopes could not independently confirm this.)
A month earlier, Matthew Moroun donated $1 million to a Trump-aligned Super PAC the month prior.
The timing of the donation raised eyebrows, though, as previously stated, whether it directly led to the Trump administration delaying the bridge's opening remains speculation.
But it is true that the U.S. delayed its opening.
According to CBS News, the bridge was set to open June 12 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was canceled last-minute. The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, which will operate the bridge, said "Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues," in a statement. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the CBC on June 12 the opening was delayed "at the request of the United States."