Export is only half of the equation. Import is the other half.

A country makes more goods than it can use for its home consumption so it needs to sell the goods into other countries.

If the country it is exporting into finds the price of the goods beneficial or the goods are especially needed, it imports them.

If the importing country wants to protect its home market on some of the goods being imported it will put additional charges called tariffs on them to make the price more competitive.

The importing country will have goods the exporting county needs as well so they create a trade alliance of common interest.

A successful trader develops a network of trade alliances so they can maintain a balance of sorts between their imports and exports, they try to level out surplus imports from one country with surplus exports with another country.

If a country complains about an imbalance in the trade alliance of another country a third element needs to be brought into the negotiations,

The trade imbalance is accounted for in a fiscal manner as relating to amounts of money in difference.

The complaining country may have a great need for manufactured goods because their economy is based more on providing services rather than manufacturing certain goods.

An accounting of service exchanges need to be considered at that point as well to get an honest picture of the trade deficits the complaining country is concerned about.

It could be the complaining country is the one with the trade surplus once the amount of services are accounted for.