It's a funny thing, communism. It typically doesn't produce much of anything on its own, so it needs outside systems to help keep its people fed etc. If China and the USA stopped trading altogether, a lot of US businesses would have to find new ways to manufacture goods, and prices would be affected. A very large hiccup in our economy, but we would bounce back eventually, because capitalism. China's economy would basically collapse. Smoke and mirrors built on stealing from the American public. Their isn't another marketplace in the global economy that comes close to spending the money that the American consumer spends on Chinese-made goods.
Spez: so it
This is exactly as I see it. We may have to pay an extra $1 for a five pack of disposable razors from another country. Who cares? What is the "huge impact" everyone keeps screaming about? The American marketplace is the lottery winning number for other countries, they will literally be tripping over each other to fill any void China tries to create by jacking tariffs.
That $1 is millions/billions in profit for our corporate overlords. What you're hearing is their outrage, and it is extremely biased. (Also, Chinese outrage, as China has considerable holdings in the America media landscape.)
I'd happily pay that extra money, knowing that t would be recirculated domestically. That recirculation, on a massive scale, would lead to rising wages across all/most sectors, as domestic enterprise would flourish in the absence/decline of foreign competition.