Resource extraction... High value infra projects in, low value unprocessed resource out.
Edit: Palau is the exception, it's main industry is tourism. Wealthy westerners come and consume and leave. Palau doesn't produce anything so all that consumption must be imported.
US current accounts deficit ~1 trillion annually, greater than your counterexamples' total combined economies. This should be a clue it's not the same mechanism of action.
