Huh? The US gets to print money for free. They don't even need to have printer's ink any more, since it's all entries in a database these days. And in return they get real stuff from overseas.
And you want to tell me that this is somehow unfair for the US?
The US can print an arbitrary amount of dollars, if there's demand for them in the rest of the world.
Btw, focussing on dollars is actually a bit narrow. When Americans sell stocks or bonds to the rest of the world, that's also part of the trade deficit. So Americans aren't just exporting dollars, they are also exporting stocks and bonds and options and futures. Financial engineering is one of great American manufacturing industries.
Interestingly enough, despite exporting so many financial products (= 'trade deficit'), Americans as a whole still make more money from their foreign investments abroad that foreigners make on their American investments. To simplify a bit too much: foreigners buy low yielding American government debt, while Americans make savvy investments abroad.
> It's not sustainable without careful policy management, and attempts to weaken the currency via tariffs, devaluation, or some other mechanism.
Oh, magical tariffs! They can strengthen or weaken your currency, just as the plot demands. They also prevent hollowing out of industry, and cure toothache.
If you want to weaken your currency, just print more of it. It's much simpler.
> You might not like Trump or his approach but he is directionally correct and does have a powerful bargaining chip (access to the US market - which is basically on track to be the only 1st world consumer driven economy 5 years from now).
What does 'consumer driven economy' even mean? Could you make your prediction more concrete. Perhaps we can even have a little bet.