Our international trade problem could be solved by simply requiring that we not buy more from a given country than we sell to them. In other words, neither country becomes indebted to the other country.
How are you going to do that?
Countries don't trade with each other. People trade with other people. At some point, are you going to announce to the American people, that, after today, they may not buy anything from China?
Also, a so-called trade deficit does not "indebt" anyone to anyone. The trade deficit does not create debt. Period.
If you buy a Chinese TV, you pay for it. You have not created a debt with the Chinese. Now, it may well be that you put that TV purchase on a credit card, but in that case your debt is with an American bank.
That imbalances in trade create debt is one of the biggest economic fallacies in existence.