President Trump, a former real estate tycoon, knows the value of a good piece of property — and especially how to leverage it.
Now he’s using the skills he refined in New York’s rough-and-tumble real estate market at the White House, turning construction projects into bargaining chips by putting the brakes on their funding.
The result is that major projects across the US — including the Gateway Tunnel between New York City and New Jersey have been halted.
“Trump is a builder at heart. It’s what he loves to do and it’s something that he’s always been very good at,” said a source close to the White House.
“If anything I’m shocked that we haven’t seen more of this. It’s smart politically because it serves as a reminder to voters that Trump fundamentally doesn’t come from the world of politics, but rather is a builder and businessman.”
Trump’s latest salvo came Monday night, when he threatened to prevent the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor from opening as part of his beef with Canada.
This time he wants the federal government to be given ownership of half of it.
“I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY.”
The list of projects the president has slapped a hold on is long and diverse — there’s railway money for Chicago, a water pipeline in Colorado and a high speed railway project in California.
“President Trump literally wrote the book on the Art of the Deal. Unlike almost everyone else in Washington, he knows how to make deals and get things done,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Post.
The things Trump is hoping to gain by cutting the funding are as diverse as the projects themselves.
For the Gordie Howe Bridge, which was slated to be the largest land crossing for cargo between the US and Canada, the main problem was Canada’s stewardship, according to the White House.
Canada paid for the construction of the $6.4 billion project, which spans 1.5 miles and is named after the hockey player.
“The fact that Canada will control what crosses the Gordie Howe bridge and owns the land on both sides is unacceptable to the president,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
“This is just another example of President Trump putting America’s interest first,” she added.
While Trump may not have the power of the purse here, he does have the power of presidential paperwork. It’s within his authority as president to revoke any permits needed for the project, a White House official said.
It’s also the president’s latest salvo against America’s neighbor to the north. Trump has waged a fierce tariff war against Canada with no signs of stopping.
He recently threatened to hit Canadian goods with a 100% tariff if the country made a trade deal with China — he pledge he hasn’t made good on just yet.
And sometimes the president simply thinks the project is a waste of money — such as with California’s high-speed railway.
In an interview with the New York Post last month, Trump slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership of the rail construction, which ballooned to $135 billion in costs.
“He has the train, the train to nowhere, that was supposed to be a simple train that went from San Francisco to Los Angeles,” he said. “It’s the greatest cost run-over that I’ve ever seen.”
Newsom has not held back on his part, calling Trump’s move an “assault” on the state. California originally sued to get federal funding back for the project but eventually terminated that lawsuit.
Trump also vetoed the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act last month, which blocked a 130-mile pipeline project designed to bring clean drinking water to over 50,000 residents in southeastern Colorado.
Again, he cited the project’s high costs, estimated at $1.39 billion.
Other times, the loss of federal funding can be an effective bargaining tool, such as when the administration shut down a slew of Army Corps of Engineers projects during last fall’s government shutdown.
Trump’s budget director froze $11 billion in infrastructure projects in several cities led by Democratic mayors, blaming Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” OMB director Russell Vought posted on X at the time.
“The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore. More information to come from the Army Corps of Engineers.”
The freeze included $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, which was earmarked to expand its railway.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, is a longtime bete noir of the president and accused Trump of using the funding to “score political points.” The two leaders have clashed repeatedly on many issues, including Trump’s push to send National Guard troops to Chicago.
A $200 million waterfront park in San Francisco, $62 million for maintenance on Baltimore Harbor, and $20 million for highways in Boston also were cut.
Pritzker and several other governors have sued to get their states’ funding reinstated. These cases are working their way through the legal system.
Also frozen during the shutdown was $18 billion in infrastructure funds for New York, the home state of Democratic congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
That included funds for the Gateway Tunnel Project between New York City and New Jersey, which includes new tunnels that would dramatically increase capacity for the beleaguered NJ Transit and Amtrak train service into Penn Station.
A federal judge ordered the funding restored but the case remains active in the courts.
Trump did have a solution in mind. He told Schumer he would release the funding if Schumer helped rename Penn Station in New York and Dulles Airport in Washington DC after himself.
The White House didn’t deny the president’s request.
“Why not,” Leavitt responded when The New York Post asked her about it.
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