Is there any loss in quality if you import a WAV file into Premiere, edit it -- such as to remove empty space or bad takes -- and export the file anew?

I.e. Is this a "recompression" that will cause the file to lose quality? Or is it akin to saving the file in a program specifically designed for audio editing?

Premiere will not degrade your WAV file *IF* you don't use any
lossy WAV compression codecs. WAV files are only a vehicle. Within
the WAV you still have to choose a compression format (or
uncompressed)! This will decide if quality is being reduced or
not. Best to work with uncompressed WAV files or lossless
codecs.