Britain’s Big Border Fight Is All About the English Channel

There’s been a strange synchronicity between British and American national obsessions this week. Over the holiday period, both countries’ media and political establishments became fixated on each country’s southern frontier. While America has been hunkering down into a deadlock over the construction of a wall intended to keep people out (or at least to exist as a metaphor for such a process), Britain’s government has been going in the other direction. The U.K. government has been worrying that, post-Brexit, its border controls will be just too effective at keeping things out—specifically the goods and supplies that keep the country running.

This week, the U.K. government admitted that it had earmarked $136 million to pay for extra shipping across the English Channel—shipping that could be needed in the event of the country leaves the E.U. without a deal in place on March 29, 2019. This money has been set aside in case a No Deal Brexit—the term used to describe the possibility of Britain leaving the E.U. without having agreed any terms with the remaining 27 E.U. countries, obliging it (until new deals are negotiated) to trade with European neighbors using bare bones World Trade Organization rules.