[missedthecue]

Like Adam Smith pointed out, the ideal set-up is to maximize imports and minimize exports. This will make your nation richer over the long run.

[ericd]

If you do that, don’t you have to essentially export money? Which can then be used by your counterparties to buy up your nation’s productive assets, and diminish the effective savings of your populace via asset inflation?

Also, aggregate wealth of a nation isn’t the only thing we should be targeting. You can increase the overall wealth while simultaneously demolishing the wealth of the large portion of your populace involved in domestic manufacturing.