While I agree that a full blown confrontation with China is unlikely (although I do think the probability of it is nowhere near 0), I think your thinking is kin

While I agree that a full blown confrontation with China is unlikely (although I do think the probability of it is nowhere near 0), I think your thinking is kind of flawed too. Why would there be a total economic collapse ? What are the strategically important things imported from China that US couldn't live without, and that couldn't switch to importing from eslewhere or manufacturing at home, in times of war ? My understanding is that US would is importing a lot of non critical things, whereas China is much more dependent on importing critical commodities (food, oil).