YES YOU DO NEED THEM...VERY BADLY!!!!!
You are unaware that 70 percent of the food on the shelves of your supermarkets comes from Central and South America. A good chuck of the oil america uses comes from Venezuela, Much of the copper and other commonly used metals comes from Peru, A lot of the Beef american eats comes from Brazil. Damn near all of your clothing is made in Mexico along with a lot of electronic devices. Fruits and produce comes nearly all from Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and the Caribbean, AMERICA IS MORE DEPENDENT ON SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN THAN YOU MAY LIKE TO KNOW OR ACCEPT and this very short list of things I mentioned doesn't come close to all america NEEDS and gets from this region of the world.
BINGO!!!There's an old joke out there about America's place & position in the world.
I can't remember exactly how it goes, but the thrust of it is that there are a bunch of people on an island.
An American, a Chinese guy, a Mexican guy, an Indian guy, a Frenchman, a Japanese guy etc., etc., etc.,
As they tried to survive on the island, they divvied up the chores and jobs that each person would be required to do, based on their various skillsets. The Frenchman was in charge of cooking the food, the Mexican guy was in charge of hunting the animals for the meals (they weren't vegetarians)
the Chinese guy was in charge of growing the vegetables that would accompany the meal, the Japanese guy was responsible for catching the fish for many of the meals, the Indian guy was in charge of gathering the firewood that would be used for the fire to cook the meal, etc., etc., ...and it was the American's job to consume the meal.
Of course after eating his meal and patting his full tummy, he would brush a few crumbs off the table for his fellow islanders to eat, but for the most part, the fruits of their labour... the big meal, was consumed by the American. And so it went all day from sun up to sun down, that each resident of the island would go out everyday and bust his chops (except for the American) hunting, gathering, fishing, farming, slaving over a hot stove... in order to prepare a feast that the American would eat. This continued until one day... the other island residents got together and realized that the American was essentially useless weight. If he weren't around, ...there'd be a lot more food for the rest of them, and they would have much more of the very things that they slaved and worked hard for all day, ...and they'd probably have more leisure time as well to go swimming. Of course it was a day the American hadn't even contemplated. He assumed the other islanders would & should be extremely grateful to him... afterall he thought in his arrogance and inflated sense of self importance 'Without him, there'd be no one to consume the meal'. The other islander knew differently. The trick is... how does the fat gluttonous arrogant American, transition himself from being a useless lazy eater, to a productive equal partner to the other islanders, ...especially when the other islanders know he has no real skills and brings nothing to the table? They would just as soon not deal with him... all he does is eat & consume the fruits of their labour. They don't need him, and would in fact probably be better off without him.
This is the position America may soon find herself to be in the world. If it weren't for her monstrous debt obligation to other countries, she might have gotten there sooner.