LAWS OF CONSERVATION. A country cannot simultaneously increase its exports of goods and its imports of capital indefinitely. At Liberty and Power, Sunna Shenoy provides a useful primer.

Thus when the US had a trade surplus & exported capital on net, it imported a larger proportion of consumer goods. But during the period when the US had a trade deficit & imported capital on net, the proportion of consumer goods in imports declined, i.e., that of production goods rose. Thus the present US trade deficit/capital inflow cannot be the result of irresponsible, high consumption.

These are points Paul Krugman made in Pop Internationalism, which I referred to here to make an argument against mercantilism in your city block. Given that the same misconceptions about trade keep popping up in many different places, posts such as the referenced Liberty and Power post are useful.