Yes.
What are described as trade deficits are imbalances in the accounts of individuals and businesses. That is individual Americans and companies buy more from a specific country than other individuals sell to that nation to create what is politically termed as a trade deficit.
These trade imbalances are not sovereign. That is the imbalance does not occur when one government buys more than it sells.
“These trade imbalances are not sovereign. That is the imbalance does not occur when one government buys more than it sells.”
It’s not as simple as that: China and other surplus countries use their dollars to buy US Treasuries.
The only product we sell that they want.