The president’s threats to slap duties on goods imported from the European Union are part of a pattern of directing the harshest penalties at the United States’ closest allies.

Some of the purported concessions that led to a 30-day pause on the tariffs were things Canada and Mexico had already done before Trump’s threat, but it’s complicated.

The pauses—which allow a period of negotiations over drug trafficking and border security—provide a cool-down period after a tumultuous few days that put North America on the cusp of a trade war.