But there are lots of other places in the world to buy foodstuffs like the US sells them. Is there a reason they can't just buy from Europe or Australia or whatever?
Only if they can up their production to match what the US was selling them. The US is a very large food exporter although the EU looks like it does more in aggregate[1]. There big problem will be if the prices rise, does it cause unrest in their populace. People will grumble if their IPhone gets more expensive or jobs are lost. Riots start when food starts getting scarce
I don’t think the USA is a crucial food exporter to any market except maybe Mexico. Yes, we export lots of fruits, nuts, and animal feed, but none of this is going to be missed very much. It’s not like Thailand cutting off rice exports.
animal feed is used to make more animals which humans eat. Im not saying I know that this would affect China for sure, but you cant take a major producer out of a market or increase their price substantially and expect no effect
Mexico and Canada would be hurt much more, prices would go up, meat would be more expensive in China, but...global starvation wouldn’t occur. There are plenty of net surplus exporters out there, and what they add are mostly luxuries.
[1]https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-...