U.S. President Donald Trump with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on May 6, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok/Flickr)
President Donald Trump's efforts to take over Canada and tax the nation to the north have not gone over well. The U.S. has lost billions of dollars due to significantly lower tourism, but the latest battle has Republicans enraged.
Writing Saturday, The New Republic's Greg Sargent said that Trump's efforts to block the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will connect Detroit, Michigan, to Ontario, have become a serious problem for GOP congressional candidates.
Sargent cited a report from The Detroit News saying the economy of the state is hurting.
As Canadian Deputy Mayor Greg Grimes said last week, he's stopped traveling over the water to Michigan. It was something he and his family loved doing. They'd go shopping or out to dinner. Since Trump, however, they stay on their own side, AlterNet reported.
He said that their family isn't the only one. Being the neighborly Canadian, Grimes tried to warn the small Michigan town across the river to Port Huron. He sent a kind email urging Port Huron City Manager James Freed, a conservative Republican, to also think beyond the economic impact and consider the longstanding friendship between the two towns. Freed didn't much care.
Now it appears Grimes' warnings were right. The lower number of Canadians entering the U.S. is having a significant impact on the Michigan economy.
"Canadian visits to southeast Michigan fell 30 percent from 2024 to 2025, said Visit Detroit CEO Claude Molinari," The Detroit News reported.
“That’s a large decline in a short amount of time,” Molinari added. “And it’s certainly having a detrimental impact on our area hotels, restaurants and attractions, which have been able to rely on consistent Canadian travel in recent years.”"
There were about 10 million fewer Canadians who came to the U.S. in 2025. There has been a steady drop for some time, likely due to the exchange rate. But The Detroit News called 2025's numbers "unique" in their "severity."
An official with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce said: “Canadians are very important to American businesses.”
This is a serious problem for three Republican-held congressional seats in Michigan, Sargent noted. There's also an open Senate seat as Sen. Gary Peters announced his retirement.
One district is the historic home of the "fabled Reagan Democrat," Sargent recalled, and it could finally flip away from the GOP in 2026. The 10th Congressional District sits just north of Detroit on Lake St. Clair. The district's economy is heavily reliant on Canada.
The Democratic candidate running for the seat is former prosecutor Christina Hines. Speaking to Sargent, she said, “Michigan and Ontario are uniquely connected. We should be protecting cross-border trade and cooperation—not escalating conflict.”
Democrats running in Michigan think that they can make overtures to repair the relationship with Canada, even if Trump is still in the White House.
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