What If the Strait of Hormuz Was the English Channel?
Iran’s shipping toll epitomizes a transactional new world order. Markets are living with it.
Britannia tolls the waves.
Photographer: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty
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Here’s a thought experiment. Britain votes to “take back control” by leaving the European Union. Then it announces that all ships passing through the English Channel must pay a toll. To enforce the charge on the 600 ships that cross the narrow waterway each day, it stations missile launchers on the white cliffs of Dover. Ships at anchor in Dover and Folkestone stand ready to lay mines in the Channel. The Royal Navy intercepts fare-dodgers with speedboats and drones. As the howls of protest amplify, the British government offers to share the proceeds with the French authorities on the other side.
