If Trump cut trade with deficit countries, how long could the US economy survive?

[888theGreat]

We have trade Deficits with almost every country and US only builds cars /trucks mostly. Walmart gets 80% of their items from other countries. So how long could economy survive? What about Christmas retail season?

US Economy survives 2 weeks

US Economy survives one month

US Economy survives 2 Months

US Economy Survives 6 months

US Economy could survive 1 Year

US Economy could Survive 2 Years

More than 2 years , US would Survive, but be without many items. Unemployment would be 50%. Half of Businesses would fail. US would lose Reserve Currency status.

Updates

10 d

They completely changed my question.

Trump threatened 0 trade with countries if FED didn't lower Interest Rates. All that will do is create more inflation which is already picking up. So, US needs products and materials from other countries to survive. US basically only make Autos and Trucks.

[lightbulb27]

not long, we don't make anything to sell in this consumer driven economy. That's the problem, we were trained to be dunce consumers. we print up money, buy products elsewhere... as we earn the inflated money, we put it into the stock market which inflates. The bubble goes up and up until... pop.

how many apple orchards been started, shoe factories, etc.. we cannot compete with vietnam or indonesia, etc..

our cars are beyond chinese... if they sold their cars, we'd be wiped out.

That's reality. Trump is dealing with a giant pickle... rotten one. the only thing we really have, is bloated fat humans and what they produce... poop. If we could find out how to make energy out of that poop, we may have something.

[DryGermanGuy]

Trump is such an uneducated moron. He actually thinks that the term "trade deficit" means the United States would lose money or subsidize foreign countries or whatever. Smh.

[Jersey2]

Foreign companies would build factories in the US just like they were starting to do when tariffs were increased. You don’t seem to know the US is the number 2 in manufacturing.

Typical top rankings (latest available data, ~2024–2025)
Manufacturing value added is usually reported in current US dollars from World Bank / UN sources. Figures vary slightly by year and source, but the order is stable:

1. China — ~$4.66–4.82 trillion (~28% of world manufacturing). Dominant in electronics, EVs, steel, chemicals, machinery, and consumer goods. worldpopulationreview. com

2. United States — ~$2.5–2.91 trillion (~16–17%). Strong in aerospace, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, defense, and high-value machinery. sis. gov. eg

3. Japan — ~$790–870 billion (~5%). Precision engineering, autos, robotics, and electronics. crossdockinsights. com

4. Germany — ~$830–890 billion (~5%). Machinery, autos, and industrial equipment (the “Mittelstand” model). es. wikipedia. org

5. India — ~$460–533 billion (~3%). Growing in pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering goods, and autos. es. wikipedia. org

[888theGreat]

Never happened bro, you believe the false Trump propaganda. LIke I said see which party wins in November.

[Jersey2]

Sure it would and does. Which is why we are number 2 in manufacturing. What is wrong with you. TDS?

[Sevenpointfive]

with all of them? we'd have a big crisis on our hands. stores would be barren within a month. it would take about 2 weeks to realize it might be affecting us. we don't know because the store is always stocked. people buy like normal. but when that stock can no longer fill up the shelves like before you notice. you let it go for a a day or two and go back just to see it got worse. by that fourth week you realize that product isn't coming back. and everything is empty except American made goods that you now overbought for.

they might just purchase American made alternatives and shelve those? it would hurt their profits but it could become normal. but they'd have to have this planned ready to go.

[Anonymous]

I honestly can't believe how dumb Trump is. On a week where Bessent wants to start buying back US Bonds to lower yields, Trump makes a threat that will send bond yields to the moon. Every country's finance minister is laughing at the US administrations incompetence right now. There obviously isn't a plan they are following and failing to plan is the same as planning to fail.

As bond yields rise, the cost of borrowing for companies to build factories rise. In the last year and a half, tariffs have been added to lumber, steel, concrete and basically every construction material adding to the cost to expand production in the US. The US is not a cost effective place to expand to right now and if it doesn't make business sense, it won't happen.

[Likes2drive]

Probably increase inflation for a while, then they have to start manufacturing certain products here so it would start to create new jobs, but things would be a lot more expensive, we wouldn’t be able to get a certain foods as cheap as before since a lot of it comes from Mexico but the USA can definitely survive on its own It just would be more expensive than it already is And yeah, Walmart would be in big trouble considering how much stuff they get from China , everything would just become more expensive since we get so much stuff from other countries cheaper than we can get it making it here, people would have to repair a lot of older things since there wouldn’t be much new stuff available, we’ve become too reliant on getting things from other countries so much cheaper than we can make it here unfortunately

[jshm2]

Lol, it's irrelevant. You have a 100% trade deficit with your supermarket... See how it works?

You sell nothing to the supermarkets, but do buy from them. On a country scale it just means you buy more than sell. But it does not include the fact the retailer/ manufacturer is often profiting from the agreement. Not to mention the government collects taxes in both industries.

Trump is full of shit in that regard. He wants to personally profit from each sector. Leech that he his.

[Just_Ken]

Indefinitely. The US has the resources and technology to be mostly self efficient. It imports more than it exports, it would just start making for itself what it imports.

What's missing is the will.

[exitseven]

Thr US economy would boom with all the new manufacturing jobs that would be created. The US is the largest economy in the world and it does not need foreign countries to flood our msrket with cheap knock offs.

[888theGreat]

It would collapse. WalMart can't replace products for shelves. Walmart is biggest employer in US. US makes close to nothing here. Job losses would be staggering. Gov't debt explodes as they have to send checks to unemployed people. It takes years to build factories. Trump would end America as you know it. We would no longer have biggest economy , maybe 10th.

[888theGreat]

US gets most of its food from other countries. if they switch to American made food, you are looking at 10X increase in food prices. Because anything made or produced in America is more expensive.

[exitseven]

US makes nothing here,,, yet. New factories are being built every day.. I can see the US becoming the world leader in innovative manufacturing and using new facilities to produce merchandise better, faster and less expensive than Mexico or China.

[888theGreat]

Trump is --100,000 Manufacturing jobs since he took office. That is all a myth and just Trumpian Propaganda.

[exitseven]

I never buy food made in other countries except for bananas. I buy dairy products from a dairy in the next town. I buy fruit and vegetables grown in USA. If it is not in season I will not buy it from Mexico or Brazil. When the Mexicans find out the food is for the gringos they pee on it.

[exitseven]

No, 58.000 , manufacturing jobs have been created in the first 3 quarters of 2026. Lots of construction jobs have been created from new factories being built and companies like Caterpillar that make heave construction equipment cannot make stuff fast enough. As new factories come online more jobs will also be created. The problem on the horizon is finding enough workers.

[888theGreat]

Since 2024 we are down 100,000 Manufacturing jobs. You must quit believing Trump team propaganda. We will see in Nov, even with Trump cheating , Republicans are going to lose.

[exitseven]

It took a while before President Trump;s policies were in effect and could actually cause real job growth, We are seeing that job growth now and it will continue as new factories are completed..
We are going in the right direction and I imagine China is concerned.

[Abbycado]

He’s a moron. They will tank in the midterms, thankfully.

[MrChinaski]

A trade deficit is other people giving you bright, shiny presents that you don't need to pay for, yet.

It's really quite kind of them.

[Anonymous]

I dunno, how long would the US last if we cut all aid to all countries... Of the 195 countries in the world, we give aid to 180 of them. If we cut all of that off, how long before these countries either collapse or attack the US...

[Anonymous]

We would be fine provided we start moving the businesses here quickly. The only jobs that would be lost are taken by foreigners who never gave a shit about the US anyway.

[NathanDavis]

we're TACO country now