The global economy sure, but not the US economy.
The surplus comes from the fact that US buyers don't have to pay a percentage to the intermediary, so they can spend it on other things, like going out to a local restaurant more often.
A contrived example...
A person has $X that they spend every week at the local town restaurant. They see they can buy a cool new widget from a Chinese vendor (from the article) for $Y. Over the course of the next few weeks, said person spends a little less at the restaurant so as to save up $Y, ultimately purchasing the widget once enough money is saved.
In this example the person is contributing less to the local economy.
I guess the question then is: do we have a way of predicting which way it will go?
Though I don't see introducing/enforcing waste as a right way to ensure more money goes to the national economy.