Finally, a new bridge from the Midwest to Canada. No thanks to Donald Trump

Beginning next week, Midwesterners driving to Canada finally should have an alternative to the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, notorious for its delays, poor maintenance and costly tolls.

Behold the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, replete with six traffic lanes, 16 toll lanes and 60 inspection bays and offering a direct connection between Michigan’s I-75 and Ontario’s Highway 401 without dropping off border crossers in traffic-clogged Windsor, Ontario.

This would have happened months ago without the interference of President Donald Trump, who has used the bridge, which was paid for by Canada but will be owned equally by Canada and the state of Michigan, as a bargaining chip for various sorts of ridiculousness from trade policy disagreements to cronyism to, this week, his views on Canada’s management of wildfires, which is open to debate but has nothing whatsoever to do with a bridge across the Detroit River.

More nefariously, the various delays and political rhetoric surrounding the bridge, the construction of which began eight years ago last Friday, suggest that Trump h ...