This rhetorical game has been played dozens of times since at least the 1970s.
The trade deficit means less and less every year as companies are more interconnected globally. Walmart makes a lot of money as an American retailer selling goods produced in other countries. Walmart is one of the nation's largest employers and one of the greatest businesses on the planet.
It is emblematic of how trade deficits are probably good-- if they mean anything. How many times do we have to observe recessions reducing trade deficits before we conceed this point?
Lower trade deficits mean consumers dont have the money to buy their cheap chinese vcrs. That's it. That's all it means.
"This rhetorical game has been played dozens of times since at least the 1970s."
That would be great if two things were happening. One, if we were the ones getting the profits. Two, if were the ones producing. We ain't, and that has been changing for the negative since the 70's, and it is getting harder and harder for the US to make profit.