You can use an easy thought experiment to figure out both types of deficits.
Imagine a country that produced absolutely nothing, no food, no products of any kind, no services of any kind. How would that country import the products it needs to exist? What would it trade with? How long would other peoples be essentially slaves for this product less country?
What if the country only produced 10% of what it needed. How would it pay for the 90%? Oh, why on credit you say. How long would the creditors allow that 90% to compound while never being reduced? Some people think the rules of nature have been permanently suspended, that deficits no longer have meaning. I would counter that time is all that is needed to reset the balance.
Can someone argue that China is not a richer country because of its trade surplus? Can someone argue that the wealth of a nation can leave a country faster than produced and that country will not become less wealthy?
Another example, think about what happened in WW1 that left the USA the wealthiest nation on the planet.
