Only someone who can't balance a check book demands to have an explanation of why outflows exceeding inflows is toxic. Odd you have to have it explained to you.
Sorry but that is not an apt comparison, not even close.
I have trade deficits with Walmart, Amazon, Publix, various restaurants etc. They have never bought a single thing from me, but I have spent thousands with them over the years.
Why? Because I have money and they have what I want.
Same with foreign companies. They have goods Americans want, and we do not have goods that they want. Likely because many ouf products are costly and places like Vietnam, Thailand India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, etc., people simply cannot afford American goods.
I do not have a trade deficit with Porsche, Lamborghini, Ruth Chris, etc. because I cannot afford or don't want what they have because they cost too much. It is the same reason you won't see Chevys and Fords on the streets of Vietnam or India or Pakistan.
Outside of Marxist blather there is no sound economic principle supporting the idea wealth should distributed based on country size or population. Nor has that ever been the case.
The concern is the US record trade deficit. As Trump's tariffs and trade deals illustrate other nations were massively exploiting US weakness.
If you think the tariffs with affect these, you are sadly mistaken. We will buy less from them, but they probably buy less from us as well, because they still can't afford what we are selling and we're pissing the world off and many people are boycotting us.
Trade deficits in our case are good. It says we have the money to buy and those countries have what we want to buy.
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