I don't think trade deficits are good/bad. It's just the trading choices that people who happen to be on different sides of borders make. The problem is its "twin" deficit, the fiscal deficit, i.e. gov't borrowing money secured by its ability to tax its citizens in the future.

There is no such thing as a trade deficit. it is a construct of wrongful economic theory. Collectivists today use that idea from the mercantilists of the 17th and 18th centuries. The fallacy is exploded by double entry bookkeeping. Just because you spend silver to import wine does not leave you with a "trade deficit." You gained the value of the wine.

When you realize you no longer can pay for or produce what you need to survive.