You buy a honda. You save money. That money you saved can be used to buy domestic products. Honda uses your dollars to purchase products, and that money eventually filters back into the US economy, as somewhere down the line, someone uses their increased income to purchase American goods.
There is another crucial thing to remember: absent government intervention in the money supply, there has to be a balance of trade and payments in the medium and long run.
When there was a world gold standard trade always balanced because of inflation/deflation associated with trade. Say there are two countries, C1 and C2. C1 purchases $100 bn worth of products from C2. C1 now has $100 bn less in currency and C2 has $100 bn more. Prices in C2 rise disproportionately, while prices in C1 fall disproportionately. This makes it more profitable for consumers in C2 to purchase products from C1, since prices are lower in C1. The money then travels back to C1, completing the cycle of trade and creating a trade balance.
Under the modern system of monetary nationalism, there should still be a trade balance absent government intervention. If the US purchases $100 bn worth of products from China, Americans need to trade $100 bn for the equivalent amount of Yuan (Chinese currency) at the prevailing exchange rate. This makes the USD depreciate in value as the RMB appreciates in value. All of a sudden, the Chinese have higher purchasing power than the Americans, which makes them able to purchase more American goods, evening out the exchange rate again.
The reason why the US has sustained trade and current account deficits for 25+ years has been due to government intervention via the Fed and other central banks. First, the Fed has promoted unsustainable consumption by keeping interest rates low, which has helped Americans borrow in order to purchase foreign goods. Second, this excessive money creation has also prevented prices from depreciating relative to Chinese prices, which has prevented the Chinese from having greater purchasing power in order to purchase US goods. Third, foreign central banks have kept their currencies at artificially low exchange rates to the USD by purchasing US Treasury Bonds, in effect weakening their currency (and thus keeping their citizens’ purchasing power artificially low).
You have to remember that in light of this, trade quotas, tariffs, domestic tax policies, etc. all have exactly zero effect on trade. Trade is determined by monetary flows. Because monetary flows have been perverted due to these government interventions, America has been running high trade and current account deficits. Even if the US had absurdly high tariffs, trade quotas, and non-existent business taxes, while the rest of the world practiced free trade but had high business taxes, the trade balance would remain the same, due to government intervention in monetary flows.
Now, when you enter into an argument with someone about this subject and have to explain it to them, but they keep on interrupting you, just remind them that your political philosophy is more than just bumper sticker phrases and talking points. Make sure to say that. Too many times people throw around talking points, and its important to call them out on it. Dig deeper than something a politician might have posted on a billboard.