Statistics Canada says the newly opened Gordie Howe International Bridge has seen more than 270,000 crossings in its first full month of operation. The federal agency says nearly 135,000 return trips by Canadian residents, and 101,000 trips by U.S. residents were recorded at the bridge in August. It also says that 34,800 transport trucks used the bridge to enter Canada last month. The bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit opened to traffic on July 27 following months of delays and tensions involving U.S. President Donald Trump. StatCan says two other major border crossings in Windsor, the Ambassador Bridge and the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, recorded 348,000 inbound trips by Canadian and U.S. residents in August, a decrease of more than 35 per cent over the same period in 2025. The number of Canadians travelling across the border dropped significantly after Trump began his trade war with Canada at the start of his second term last year. New StatCan data shows that might be changing, as Canadian residents’ return trips from the United States by automobile and air totalled 2.6 million in August, a nearly nine per cent increase over the same period last year. However, that number remains lower from August 2024 when Canadians made over 3.3 million trips to the United States. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2026.
