The prices will eventually get jacked up once the market penetration is judged sufficient. Likely they'll charge as much money as they can, so it'll end up being just a hair under what a human would cost, maybe more of the switching cost is high.
The US can absolutely survive without trade. They'll be comparatively poor and not have much "soft" power, but they have more than enough resources in their borders to feed and arm themselves. Inefficiently.
The basic idea is that it can stem from the incel world, the attitude that if they can't have women, they can become them. It can be a way to affirm hypermasculinity, not challenge it.
So it ends up being dominance, forcing men into subservience.
Good piece.