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He said "relies".

I could do without all of those during hard times.

If you're talking about the kind of hard times where your economic needs are reduced to 1400 calories/day, a lump of coal to cook your millet gruel, and some shoes made of old tires, the US is at least a major food exporter.

I don't expect times to get that tough.

You could do without airplanes? Clothes? Soft drinks? If you are doing without those, then what do you need from China?

There are less-expensive alternatives for all of the examples you provided. Take a look at what happened to each of those companies (which existed) back in the early 90s.

For planes, there's already a nice inventory of used aircraft backing up thanks to the latest airline bankruptcies. Do you think an airline will be buying new (or any?) aircraft if vacation and business travel drops off a cliff?

So you really think in a time of globalisation and opening markets, a country will suddenly become an island because people are too poor to travel?

Anyone who believes this is seriously believes this needs to read some books.

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