Importing a file outside of the project folder causes: Emit skipped error

Im trying to import a file outside of the project. It's a shared file between the frontend and the server.

When i try import it it throws this error:

node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:370
        throw new TypeError(`${relative(cwd, fileName)}: Emit skipped`)
              ^
TypeError: project/my_file.ts: Emit skipped
    at getOutput (/Users/.../node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:370:15)
    at Object.compile (/Users/.../node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:558:11)
    at Module.m._compile (/Users/.../node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:439:43)
    at Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:713:10)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .ts] (/Users/.../node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:442:12)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:612:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:551:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:543:3)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:650:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:20:18)

I'm able to import it from my angular project which is a sibling.

I've tried adding the file to my tsconfig under includes and files. This is what my tsconfig looks like:

{
  "extends": "../tsconfig.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "../../dist/backend",
    "rootDir": "./",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "types": [
      "node"
    ]
  },
  "files": [
    "../lib/shared_file_to_import.ts" // Can't import this file
  ],
  "include": [
    "./**/*.ts"
  ]
}

And this is my tsconfig file that the project extends:

{
  "compileOnSave": false,
  "extends": "./node_modules/gts/tsconfig-google.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "rootDir": ".",
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "strict": true,
    "strictPropertyInitialization": false,
    "declaration": false,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "target": "es5",
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "typeRoots": [
      "node_modules/@types"
    ],
    "lib": [
      "es2017",
      "dom"
    ]
  },
  "include": [
    "./lib/shared_file_to_import.ts"
  ]
}