All counties are not the same, all political systems are not the same but somehow text book marco economics is supposed to apply to all nations equally. Drop your text book antics, we are adults here.
No.
Are you saying the USA could not be self sufficient?
No, the USA could probably be self-sufficient. We could get by fine, but we would not be nearly as prosperous as we are now with trade.
Are you stupid.
You obviously don't come here to make FRiends, do you? And, no, I am not stupid.
In our case Free Trade is a choice, the USA is not Lichtenstein.
Yes, and I *want* that choice! I don't want some dictator imposing tariffs on foreign goods I want to buy, just to protect his rich corporate donors from competition. If I want to buy a car from a Japanese firm, or oranges from Brazil, or sugar from the Dominican Republic, that should be between me and the foreign seller. Period.
You mentioned kleptocracy in a previous post. Well, what do you call it when a Florida orange grower buys off some DC pols and gets a tariff slapped on Brazilian oranges, so that he can extract a higher price from me than I would pay if I could trade freely? From my point of view, that's theft.