The Soo Locks are vital to United States trade and commerce and have been need of repair and upgrade for a long time. The locks are the largest waterway traffic system in the country and are a vital pathway to bringing in iron ore, agricultural products and thousands of other goods we use in North America, as well as export internationally. They allow freighters to carry critical supplies through the Great Lakes of Michigan but are in desperate need of repair and only Congress and the federal government can allocate the money to fix them.
Did you know? If the Soo Locks were to stop working, the production of almost all North American appliances, automobiles, railcars, and construction, farm and mining equipment would cease within weeks.

The Soo Locks upgrade was approved by Congress in 1986, but funding never followed to make the project a reality.

In April, during a visit to Michigan, President Donald Trump expressed support to fix the Soo Locks and called on Congress to make this project a priority. This fall, Congress approved legislation that was signed by President Trump that reauthorized the project at its current cost, which is $922.4 million. The next step will be obtaining a federal appropriation to pay for this project. Without the appropriation we remain at the status quo.