I am pretty sure that is not it. Trump just thinks that if we have a trade deficit with a country we are being taken advantage of so he is going to punish those countries.
If Trump or Republicans were concerned about the debt they would not be currently trying to pass a bill that cuts tax revenues by $3.8 trillion, and that increases the debt by $2.4 Trillion over 10 years.
https://bsky.app/profile/bbkogan.bsk.../3lqrynxuhsk2n