Trade Deficit
Plain definition
The amount by which a country's imports of goods and services exceed its exports over a period -- a negative trade balance. A trade deficit means the country is buying more from the world than it sells to it.
In economics
A trade deficit is not automatically bad: it can reflect strong consumer demand or productive investment financed by foreign capital. The accounting identity says a trade deficit equals the gap between domestic investment and domestic saving, so it must be financed by capital inflows in the financial account.
Example
The US has run trade deficits for decades, importing more goods than it exports while attracting the foreign investment that finances the gap.
A trade deficit is often equated with 'losing' at trade or with debt to trading partners. It is simply an accounting outcome of spending exceeding production; it can coexist with a strong, growing economy financed by foreign investment.