Just saying that we can’t hold China over an agricultural barrel anymore. It isn’t the 1990’s. Argentina and Brazil are HUGE ag producers now.
And the Chinese own a LOT of acreage there and in a lot of other countries as well.
If they were worried about getting food from the US, they wouldn’t have threatened to hold our antibiotic supply hostage.
Point is, all that capacity was already going somewhere.* We can probably force only somewhat higher prices in the US by ensuring adequate domestic supplies, but too much of that artificial interference in the markets likely causes more trouble than it helps. Globally, there is a shortfall that cannot be quickly made up. The Chinese may be able to put themselves at the head of the line when it comes to production they control(?) in other countries, but given the magnitude of the problem that's a partial solution - and only for them - at best.
*I should pun it and say it's all eaten up! ;-)
The meds supply threat is a red herring, I think, unless China is short on supplies for itself. If they are, no one can blame them for putting themselves first. We expect our gov't to do the same. If they are not short, the last thing they want to do is to encourage the US to become self-reliant again.
Sorry for the delayed reply - really busy here...