No, when Normal.dotm creates a new document, the document has the macros. You don't have to import them.

No, I'm not opening Normal.dotm for editing. I have to resort to opening it just to create new documents which have the stiles and macros. As I mentioned, I have go go through a convoluted process.

I wonder if reloading Office will solve the problem?

That simply is NOT true. A new document created from Normal.dotm is a docx file and docx files cannot contain macros. Even if you saved the document in the docm format, it still would not contain the template's macros. That is how Word works.
If you're opening it at all, you're opening it for editing.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

When you create a new document based on a template with macros (including on the normal.dotm template) that document has access to the macros contained in the template, so long as it remains attached to the template. In addition, any macros saved in the normal.dotm template will be available whether or not that is the attached template. None of these macros are stored or kept in the document, itself.

You are opening it for editing if you are doing what you say.

It is a very bad idea to have any text in your normal.dotm template. That includes headers/footers/date/page fields. Use a regular custom document template for this. If necessary, you can make that custom template the default template for new documents. See Letterhead AddIn(s) - Default New Document for examples of how.

About 25 years ago, I came up with the same bright idea of modifying the normal template to be a document template for the kind of document I used the most. Like you, I ran into trouble. Like you, I looked for help. I was told to not put any text into the normal template. I am passing that forward. (Since then, I've seen some of the other problems that can be caused by doing this.)