Things would get a little more expensive. We are already seeing that with Trump's trade policies. But if the west-aligned world stopped trading with China their entire economy would collapse overnight, with mass unemployment.
It is a shame that Trump is deadset on alienating all of our natural allies in this conflict - especially those in the apac region.
If things get to that level of 'touchy' what makes you think shipping through that area wouldn't be interfered with? South Korea, Japan and arguably the Philippines are the main countries that wouldn't be going through areas that China regularly tries to claim or at least exercise authority over.
China hasn't fought a war in anyone's living memory. That is a hard place to fight nearly the whole world from.
Just an example from today:
"N8n raises $180M (n8n.io)"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45525336
That's what the US (and Europe?) seems to invest in - but things like that doesn't make the US any more competitive with China.
What if instead it was $180M in new green mining tech or something.
They are now the manufacturing capital of the world, and our position of being the preeminent consumer in the world lasts only as long as our consumers can afford to purchase things.
China runs a precarious political situation which is only as strong as the country is economically stable - which currently it is veering to unstable. It goes without saying the US is also in a precarious situation - it is much more publicized due to the nature of the US airing all its dirty laundry publicly.
If China cut trade ties with the US, which country do you think will still be able to produce everything it needs? People like to think of China as just a source of cheap consumer goods, but we are much more reliant on them than that. Every power plant has Chinese components that keep it functioning. Every farm, automobile, communication network, aircraft, factory.. they all rely on Chinese components and equipment. The list touches every facet of modern American life.
China could make the US unrecognizable within 5 years, without ever launching a single missile