Mike Rogers ties bridge opening to Canadian tariffs on Chinese cars Washington ― Republican Senate hopeful Mike Rogers says that the U.S. should pressure Canadian officials to keep imports of Chinese electric vehicles out of Canada's market as a condition of opening the newly built Gordie Howe International Bridge over the Detroit River. "I would use that leverage," Rogers told The Detroit News on Monday. "Let's use this as an opportunity to push back on this Chinese car production issue that Canada has. ... This is the perfect opportunity to bring Canada to a better place on allowing these 100% Chinese-made cars into the northern market." A ribbon-cutting for the new 1.5-mile, $4.7 billion span between Michigan and Ontario was abruptly canceled earlier this month after objections from Trump administration officials, and the bridge's opening remains in limbo. President Donald Trump in February had threatened to block the Canadian-financed bridge's opening, demanding concessions from Canada in trade talks or a share of future toll revenue. Rogers, a former seven-term congressman from White Lake Township, has slammed the decision by Canada earlier this year to allow as many as 49,000 Chinese EVs annually into Canada at a tariff rate of about 6% ― slashed from the 100% tariff on Chinese EVs that had prevented their entry into the Canadian retail car market since 2024. "This is the biggest existential threat we have to the American automobile business is Chinese-made cars built here in the United States, or imported here to the United States because they're not being competitive, and they are subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party," Rogers said. "My argument was, let's use the bridge opening as an opportunity to stop Canada from hurting American automobile workers." Canada is the largest export market for U.S.-made vehicles, but China has looked