> including the US most obviously, has excesses of dependencies on other countries
Do we have excessive dependencies on other countries (Madagascar) for vanilla? How about for chocolate? Are tariffs supposed to stimulate our own chocolate and vanilla production? How does that work if you don't have the right climate for these things? I suppose we could grow vanilla in greenhouses, but would that really be worthwhile when we can just import it from places where it does grow?
I agree that those are great examples of good trade products: luxuries relatively region locked that you don't really need, but enhance quality of life. These products, if suddenly unavailable, might cause some discomfort but not much more than that.
This is, in large part, why sanctions wars are playing with fire given our current status of trade. We, with "we" being most of 'advanced' economies, export discretionary/luxury goods and import critical/core ones. Even if the discretionary goods have a far higher $ value, they really just don't matter - it's those core goods that keep the gears of a nation turning.
Do we have excessive dependencies on other countries (Madagascar) for vanilla? How about for chocolate? Are tariffs supposed to stimulate our own chocolate and vanilla production? How does that work if you don't have the right climate for these things? I suppose we could grow vanilla in greenhouses, but would that really be worthwhile when we can just import it from places where it does grow?