Good topic!
While trade deficits do negatively impact GDP on paper, the demand gap problem, as well as the jobs problem, is taken care of by deficit spending. It fills the gap and replaces the jobs, allowing the economy to grow, even with the negative (X-M) component.
What I would argue is that, overall, it is better to have exports = 8 and imports = 10 than it would be to have balanced 5+5 trade. (All made up numbers, of course, but I don't see the effective taxation having no effect. i.e., I wouldn't predict a 9+9 or 8+8 result from ICs.) Exports are greater, which is obviously a good thing (more jobs), but greater imports also means more jobs. More retail jobs, more transportation jobs - and more cheap goods. And with more, cheaper inputs, along with more aggregate demand, I would think that the greater import/export commerce would also boost domestic consumption and investment numbers.