The trade deficit is largely a byproduct of the financial account surplus. Basically, we borrow so much money that the only way to balance things out is to import goods/services.
In middle school, my health class was all about how in high school, there'd be all these crazy sex and drug fueled parties and one day I turned to my friend and said "I cannot wait for high school".
I'd imagine they save the state intermittently and can boot it back up if needed. Depends on how valuable this sim is I guess.