President Donald Trump announced that his administration has “terminated” the $16 billion Gateway tunnel project, which would build two new rail tunnels and rehabilitate existing tunnels more than 100 years old connecting New Jersey to New York. Funding for the project was paused at the beginning of the current government shutdown.
“We’re getting rid of programs that we didn’t like,” President Trump said at a press conference in the White House on Wednesday. “We’re terminating those programs, and they’re going to be terminated on a permanent basis. … It’s billions and billions of dollars that [New York Senator Chuck] Schumer has worked 20 years to get. It’s terminated. Tell him it’s terminated.”
New Jersey and New York officials responded to the surprise announcement.
“It’s petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy and kill good-paying jobs,” said Senator Schumer in a statement. “It’s vindictive, reckless and foolish.”
U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) released the following statement:
“President Trump is taking a sledgehammer to one of the most important infrastructure projects in the entire country. And with that, he’s taking a sledgehammer to tens of thousands of jobs, to our economy, to labor and to American competitiveness.
I helped write, negotiate and pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which secured the funding for the Gateway Train Tunnel. These are dollars that will help fix tunnels people rely on to get to work that are literally crumbling — dollars already approved by Congress and signed into law.
I hope both Republicans and Democrats in New Jersey and New York stand with me in fighting back. We cannot let partisan chaos take a wrecking ball to Gateway.”
In March 2025, a Hudson Tunnel Project analysis showed construction supports 20,200 jobs and would generate $4.5 billion in economic output.
“Gateway is the most important infrastructure project in the nation. President Trump’s surprise ‘termination’ of the project is not only a crude display of power but a reckless betrayal of the commuters, businesses and workers who depend on the Northeast Corridor each and every day,” stated Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
“These are hardworking families and union workers who, rightfully, expect their government to act in their best interest, especially when their livelihoods and safety are on the line. Bipartisan and critical infrastructure work that has already begun should not be weaponized. Abandoning this vital project now would erase two decades of progress, and the people of our region deserve better.”
Utility and Transportation Contractors Association (UTCA) Executive Director David Rible issued a statement as well:
“Congress needs to do what American taxpayers are paying them to do: get back to work. The shutdown has real-world consequences for working people and should not be a matter of soundbites and off-the-cuff remarks. The Gateway Tunnel is not a game: it is the most important infrastructure project of this generation.
Countless jobs are at stake, not to mention the overall economic impact to the region if the current tunnels have to be shuttered. Enough is enough. Get back to D.C. and figure it out.”
