In the modern era, from 1961 through 2012, of all the nations in the entire world, America was the leading exporter of goods. Those exports were part and parcel of what allowed America to sustain its economic growth as well as providing good paying domestic employment, of which, beginning in 2013, America ceded its top spot of exporting to China, of which it would appear, that America will never gain such ever again. It is trade, that is the engine of growth within any nation, and when nations run deficits of huge amounts between what they import from other nations in comparison to the value of goods so exported, those nations will invariably weaken and become susceptible to losing their economic power and influence on a global scale.
For all those that believe that America is getting the best of other nations but virtue of the fact that America is trading paper money as in their dollars for real physical goods -- it must be recognized that at some point, nations that import far more than then export, will have to pay the piper, in a value that is of merit to those that are exporting to them; signifying that the United States dollar at some point, will lose its status as the global currency of choice, which will weaken the United States, financially as well as economically, for America has for far too long, rested on its laurels, not seeming to recognize that a terrible reckoning will come, sooner or later.
The truth of the matter is that nations that do a lot of exporting, and in particular, export more than they import, are nations that are becoming economically stronger and more vibrant, for they are creating goods of worth, that other countries have a desire to buy, which enriches the country that manufactures those goods. So that, economies and societies get stronger by virtue of creating goods that are in demand by the buyers of those goods; irrespective of whether those buying those goods are doing so from their savings, or from the borrowing of money to do so.
While, one can point out the obvious that China, is a country of far greater population than America, and therefore because of having a sizeable amount of more people that labor that they should correspondingly export more goods; this misses the salient point that America is a country of great intellectual, industrial, and technological wealth, that really should not be ceding its export crown, especially in regards to exports of real substance and value, to any nation; but, in fact, just as Japan proved decades ago, China exports and manufactures goods that are the equal of, what America is able to accomplished, which signifies that whatever advantages America once had over China, are for the most part, gone, and gone for good.
This world has become a very competitive place and this world has also become much smaller, so that those countries that are not able to adjust to this new paradigm, are those countries that will fall further behind, in which, America seems to be asleep at the wheel, and failing to understand the significance that any country that has had nothing since the inception of the 21st century but massive trade deficit imbalances in regards to its trade, is a country clearly in decline, and therefore susceptible to a catastrophic economic collapse of epic proportion.