Thanks to all for participating and particularly to Matt and Jim H. for the direct answers to my question. I guess one reason I'm confused is that there isn't a clear answer. If both Matt and Jim are right, the UK's fall back plan is to impose custom controls (per WTO rules) without a border.
(It seems more complicated than my original fear, that Johnson was tacitly threatening that the only way for the EU to avoid violence was to sweeten the Brexit deal.)
I don't suppose this is a very original observation, but the situation must really cheer those who oppose democracy by showing how incoherent can be a decision made collectively. (In the U.S., we're doing our bit to support democracy by proving that empowering a single decision maker is no guarantee of coherence.)
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