Most of Europe's trade with Asia passes through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, where the Houthis have seized key ports and islands.

Omissions

• No Eurostat or European Commission figure quantifying the share of EU trade with Asia that transits the Bab al-Mandab/Suez route was found; the available official data measure shares of GLOBAL trade (12-15%) and global container traffic (20-30%), not the EU-Asia bilateral flow.
• Shipping volumes through the Red Sea fell by roughly 50-55% between 2023 and 2025 (IMF PortWatch data cited by Al Jazeera) as major operators rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, so the current share of Europe-Asia trade physically passing the strait is materially lower than the pre-2024 structural share.
• The claim conflates the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint with the whole Suez route; the strategic dependence of Europe on the corridor is real but is routinely quantified at roughly 30% of global container traffic, not a majority of EU-Asia trade.

Sources

• PrimaryUNCTAD (Jan Hoffmann) via UN Media"The Red Sea route and the Suez Canal is critical for global trade flows. The Suez Canal handled approximately 12 to 15 percent of global trade. For container shipping, it's even more important: 20 percent of the world's container trade goes through the Suez Canal."
• PrimaryNew Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade"Approximately 12% of global trade passes through the Suez canal, representing 30% of all global container traffic, and over USD $1 trillion worth of goods per annum."
• SecondaryEuronews"Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis took control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Friday, after capturing an island located in the middle of the crucial Red Sea waterway, a local government official and eyewitnesses said." / "Boats carrying armed Houthi fighters reached Mayyun Island after government forces withdrew from it yesterday," the official said, referring to a rocky volcanic island also known as Perim that divides the narrowest part of the strait into two shipping lanes.
• SecondaryAl Jazeera"The Houthis have completed their takeover of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline, capturing the port city of Mocha and overrunning the strategic island of Mayyun (Perim) over the weekend." / "Data from IMF PortWatch indicates a drop of between 50 percent and 55 percent in shipping volume and tonnage through the Red Sea between 2023 and 2025... Major shipping operators continue to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope."