Why Egypt Has the Most to Lose From Houthi Strikes on Merchant Ships

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The attacks harm global trade, but the regional impact might be worse.

By Cameron Abadi, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy, and Adam Tooze, a columnist at Foreign Policy and director of the European Institute at Columbia University. Sign up for Adam’s Chartbook newsletter here.

A picture taken during an organized tour by Yemen's Houthi rebels shows the deck of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship as it floats on the Red Sea beneath a hazy blue sky. Houthi fighters patrol the deck, and the Yemeni and Palestinian flags hang from the main mast.

A picture taken during an organized tour by Yemen's Houthi rebels shows the Galaxy Leader cargo ship, seized by Houthi fighters two days earlier, docked in a port on the Red Sea near the Yemeni province of Hodeida on Nov. 22, 2023. AFP via Getty Images

Approximately 30 percent of global shipping-container traffic goes through the Red Sea—the body of water that is now the site of the United States’ latest military intervention, Operation Prosperity Guardian. The Biden administration is leading a coalition of countries against Yemen’s Houthi militia, which has been attacking ships passing through the Red Sea. Geopolitically, the operation represents spillover from the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Economically, it’s meant to restore the shipping lanes that global trade relies on.

Cameron Abadi is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @CameronAbadi

Adam Tooze is a columnist at Foreign Policy and a history professor and the director of the European Institute at Columbia University. He is the author of Chartbook, a newsletter on economics, geopolitics, and history. Twitter: @adam_tooze