-4

After Bob brought the American flag from the moon into his possession and convinced the majority of the American people that it is true, President Prumptin is not very pleased of this idea. While he believes that this is just fake news to destroy American faith, he does not want a source of such dangerous fake news to go unpunished.

What comes next is a series of military operations in various countries to track down Bob. However, all missions have failed, usually do not have the permission of the "liberated" country and cause greater damage for which America does not want to pay (see the Paris mission of Team America (America, F*ck yeah)).

After the whole (!) rest of the world wants to punish this behaviour of America, they want to trade one (1) commodity 1 year not with the US.

The commodity can be material (e.g. oil) or a service (e.g. banking). But it can also be more abstract things, e.g. manpower. It should only have the greatest possible influence/damage on America.

The damage caused to other countries is irrelevant, as it will be compensated by other countries.

What is the most important trade resouce for the US?

  • The US is in its pre Corona state (10/2019)
  • All countries (except US) stand united behind the trade embargo
  • Largest influence/damage is decisive

EDIT

with "no trade" i mean "no kind of exchange"

EDIT 2

as the most important trade resource I define the resource that the USA imports or exports and whose presence, or in this case its absence, has the greatest influence on the growth of the gross domestic product (growth can also be negative)

Anton Hinkel
  • 329
  • 1
  • 7
  • 3
    What have you searched on your own? – L.Dutch Jul 31 '20 at 07:42
  • @L.Dutch-ReinstateMonica i have found this, which classifies the labour force as important, and this, which supports oil as the most important commodity – Anton Hinkel Jul 31 '20 at 07:57
  • Not trade as in "no kind of exchange" or as in "we wont sell it to the US" or as in "we wont buy it from them". – Erik Jul 31 '20 at 08:17
  • @Erik with "no trade" i mean "no kind of exchange", i have adapted the question – Anton Hinkel Jul 31 '20 at 08:27
  • Then you have to find something which the US doesn't produce itself enough, but either needs to import or export. You could try to not exchange entertainment with the US. All streaming services, most social networks, Hollywood fall under this. Or go for "no data exchange" - this would make life hard for everyone (no Google e.g.). – Erik Jul 31 '20 at 08:35
  • The U.S.A. is waaaaay too large to suffer more than a mild inconvenient from a trade embargo. (Hint: the necessity of being large enough is one of the main reasons why the E.U. exists. And it is still not large enough.) – AlexP Jul 31 '20 at 10:20
  • why the downvotes? Would be better to explain so OP can improve his question if it is seen necessary. – Duncan Drake Jul 31 '20 at 12:29
  • @user535733 I can't see the opinion based remark, strange. Yes the question may need to be rephrased. "Most important" as in gives more power to the US Government? Produces highes revenue for the country? – Duncan Drake Jul 31 '20 at 14:24

2 Answers2

2

What is the most important trade resouce for the US?

The US Dollar

Given its prominent position both as reserve and transaction currency the US Dollar currency is the main pillar of US economy.
The enemies of the country would want to hit that.

Advantages that the currency provide
The US Dollar is a currency that is worldwide used both for reserve and for transactions. Countries that have local currencies may use US dollars for their transactions to reduce risks of changing exchange rates. Since it is perceived as a reliable asset it is by far the most used currency in the world with the Euro a distant second.
The advantage for the US Economy is that the high demand for US treasury securities means the US government can borrow money at very low interest rates. US bonds can be sold at a very low interest without risking of running out of buyers.
The same applies to paper banknotes. They can be printed in large quantities and sold all over the world without causing rampart inflaction because they are highly sought after.

Note that this is an absolute dominant position:

According to the IMF’s Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) data, the US dollar makes up 6.79 trillions of the world’s 11 trillion in allocated foreign exchange reserves or around 62 per cent of the total.

and also:

Many countries anchor their currency to the US dollar because their trade and investment with the rest of the world is largely US dollar-denominated. Around 70 per cent of countries have the US dollar as their anchor or reference currency. In this context, US dollar reserves are essential to managing the exchange rate.

The 'reserve currency' myth

Political leverage

US economic sanctions have considerable reach because both US and non-US financial institutions are reluctant to deal with sanctioned entities and countries for fear of being either fined by US regulators or denied access to the US dollar payments system. Non-US banks rely on their relationships with US banks and their access to US-regulated dollar payments system infrastructure to effect international transactions on behalf of their clients.

Rejecting the US Dollar
Given the premise of the question all countries of the world would need to abandon the US Dollar as the main world currency and find one or more substitutes. As noted the advantages of using USD are mutual both for the economies of the US and of the other countries but in the OP question it asks to forget about the damage that this would do to the economy of the rest of the world.
There are alternative candidates but each of them have their own weaknesses. The Euro, the renminbi, crypto currencies could all concurr to form up an alternative but they would need to solve their issues first.

  • the Euro is weakened by the lacking of a unified fiscal and political system. Euro assets are not seen as a safe haven given the recurrent debt crysis of many members.
  • China's renminbi would need to shake off the suffocating control of the State and reach financial liberalisation

Cryptocurrencies on the other hand may reach a point where they may displace local not-so-reliable currencies in the real world. In OP's world frame they may have the necessary qualities to substitute the USD if duly supported by goverments policies.

But it would require a lot of time, a lot of effort in coordinating the policies of countries that have little in common and surely not the "1 year" duration suggested in the question. It would also be a process from where the world would not turn back. A paradign shift that would have major consequences on the world economics and a shift of power.

An effort (and a cost!) of this kind would only be justified if the USA were to go 'beserk' and become seen by everyone else as public enemy #1. Something very unlikely to happen. Most likely if it is the President's problem ways to remove the President would be found.

P.S. Unsurprisingly US policy has always suppressed attempts in this direction. Ask Colonel Gaddafi for instance. Oh right, you can't.

Duncan Drake
  • 3,830
  • 12
  • 34
1

Stop lending money to fund the US national debt

a little less than half of the total national debt is owed to the "Federal Reserve and intragovernmental holdings". The foreign and international holders of the debt are also put together from the notes, bills, and bonds sections.

As of October 2018, foreigners owned 6.2 trillion dollars of U.S. debt, or approximately 39 percent of the debt held by the public of 16.1 trillion dollars and 28 percent of the total debt of 21.8 trillion dollars . At the close of 2018, the largest foreign holders were China (1.13 trillion dollars), Japan (1.02 trillion dollars , Brazil (313 billion dollars), and Ireland (287 billion dollars).

That's apparently how China leads diplomatic discussions with US government: shaking the bag with the money.

L.Dutch
  • 286,075
  • 58
  • 587
  • 1,230
  • I don't know if it would be that drastic; the worst thing the US would have to do is manage to balance the budget for the year in effect. China cannot exactly say "we want our money back now" for the same reason they cannot just go and take the bullions from Fort Knox. That would be theft. – KeizerHarm Jul 31 '20 at 09:37
  • The foreign debt of the U.S.A. is denominated in U.S. dollars. As a consequence, the U.S.A. can always pay it in an instant; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank can always take a piece of paper, write on it this piece of paper is worth on quadrillion U.S. dollars, sign in and hand it to the hapless creditor. Debt paid. Yes, it would have consequences; but the point is that any sovereign state can always pay any debt denominated in its own currency. – AlexP Jul 31 '20 at 10:17