It's the key to bleeding the USA dry and suppressing wages and bankrupting the USA.
The USA beat the Axis and the Empire of Japan plus supplied our allies in WWII. Trade was virtually zero in the decades leading up to WWII. So using that as an example then trade is a CHOICE for the USA and not a necessity.
It WAS bleeding the US dry, especially the generational theft of the H1-B program and the invasion from Mexico.
The other thing bleeding us dry was the theft of intellectual property by China, and to a lesser extent Russia.
Actual trade with other countries? You have to have it. It creates strategic interdependencies that are stronger than defense pacts.
And in the 1920s we were still allies with Japan.
Imagine if we had outsourced our material supplies to Japan, and then the Militarists took over. We would have been up the creek without a paddle.
China can turn on a dime, as well.