Apologies for failure previously to reply. Yes and that trade deficit has been in large part fueling the serial Chinese surpluses which have in turn funded Chinas expansion. A key difference between the Chinese model and the US model is that in China the government (composed of more than 60% engineers) direct capital, while in the west capital directs our so called elected governments. We have crony capitalism operated by private banks who control fiat debt issuance of capital while the CCP directs their fiat capital issuance toward their project to relentlessly grow Chinese wealth and power. Ironic that an unelected CCP nevertheless knows that if they do not deliver ongoing results they will be removed (Mandate of Heaven) , while our 'democratic' governments are little more than fronts of varied hue behind which corporate sponsors direct the flow of capital and wealth. PS Lyn Alden talks about as you mention how the USD reserve fiat currency hegemony has become a toxic curse and undermined the incentives toward productivity and development and instead left a growing deficit and failing infrastructure and investment, growing debt and no savings, but that is as much about an empire in decline as fiat...while China has milked the global reserve dynamic of the US very successfully. China has managed the fiat system with conscious deliberation while the US has allowed fiat capital issuance to be dominated by private bankers who have misused it primarily to pump and dump non productive speculative assets rather than building long term productive assets and infrastructure.