Lord: Jobs are also an output measure. People working more or harder doesn’t mean that they are happier.

If we view the country as an individual, then exports is its income (as it provides a claim on real resources), and imports is its consumption (as it involves receiving real resources). In this case any wish to increase exports while not changing imports is the same as wishing that the country saved more.

In this sense you need exports to pay for imports. If exports exceed imports then you are saving, if imports exceed exports you are borrowing. In the long-run these will need to be equalised, so whatever the country is doing depends on the nations preferences.

I’m not sure that slashing exports and consuming the goods domestically would necessarily slash GDP. GDP is consumption + investment + exports - imports. If we cut exports and increase consumption the impact on GDP is ambiguous. However, if firms are exporting the good, the value of the good must be higher on the world market than in the domestic market, so GDP would fall but only by the difference in intrinsic values between the world and domestic markets.

Ultimately, if a country is running a trade surplus or deficit it is because it is willing to save/borrow now. I find it weird that developing nations are the ones saving while developed countries are the ones borrowing - surely poor countries expect to have higher incomes later and so should borrow to smooth their income over time.