Yes, I do think so.
The reason for this is that I think it would be likely that people born and raised in America would feel that Great Britain, which was far away and did not understand Americans' needs and situations, should not rule over them. So I feel that a similar struggle for independence would have happened anyway.
The First and Second Opium wars were two conflicts that took place in the 19th century between the British Empire and China regarding the control of the opium trade.
<u>UK used smuggling techniques</u>, in order to introduce illegaly large quantities of opium in China. In fact, UK ended up becoming the major supplier in Chinese territories through these techniques. These conflicts weakened the Qing's dinasty that had to direct their trade to different territories after the confrontation.
This is what you’re looking for I think. Hope this helped.