[jjwhitaker]

There may be more data, but a trade deficit is not an inherently bad thing in fact with most nations it strengthens US soft policy by adding US currency and use of US currency to the local economy.

For China, this means they can buy gold in USD (that has slowed recently but they usually purchase large amounts of gold regularly) or offer investment cash in USD (for businesses or housing abroad). How the cash is used could be negative like buying US housing to hold or rent but a trade deficit is generally positive for the US.

[skybrian]

Yes, it's not inherently bad. My main point is that if Chinese imports to the US drop, you would expect less Chinese investment in the US.

(But then again, maybe that's nothing compared to all the assets built up from previous decades of trade deficits.)