The containerized cargo isn't really an issue - containers are numbered and sealed with tamper-resistant seals, people are already supposed to declare what goes in them, and there are ways to do randomized customs checks that presumably address these concerns. And customs enforcement of containerized cargo is anyway based on an honor system supplemented with spot audits.

Which means you can have a more or less frictionless border... but only if you make it in the seaport or railhead. As soon as you move the border out of the well-defined, fenced-in logistics hubs, you lose the ability to track consignments by tracking the containers and cross-referencing consignee data against shipper data, and then the whole thing breaks down.

You can have a land border, or you can have a frictionless border. Pick one.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.