Would the US be the same without chewing gum?

"Gum arabic is so vital to Western consumers that U.S. lawmakers carved out an exemption for the commodity after President Clinton first imposed trade sanctions against Sudan in 1997, despite reports that Osama bin Laden had once dabbled in the industry. When President Bush recently tightened economic sanctions against Sudan to protest the conflict in Darfur, gum arabic suppliers were once again left off the list of targeted firms. The U.S. buys about one-quarter of Sudan's gum arabic.

The ancient industry is facing its biggest threat yet because of the conflict in Darfur and government mismanagement. Its future could affect not only the nearly 5 million Sudanese whose livelihoods depend upon the commodity, but also the price, quality and availability of hundreds of popular Western consumer products.

As a result, Importers Service and other international buyers began to look elsewhere. Chad, Nigeria, Uganda and Ethiopia are ramping up their production. Berliner said his firm shifted part of its business to the few private sellers in Sudan. Others began searching for lab-produced substitutes that can mimic the properties of gum arabic."

I've been waiting for this to happen for ages. German scientists, 20 years ago, started looking for a tissue culture method to produce gum arabic without the trees. They have clearly not managed it. GA is produced from the acacia tree, which also grows well in Yemen and other similar regions.