Last week, haven demand lifted the US Dollar amid worries about the escalating trade tensions as expected. The move higher would prove short-lived, however. The currency touched an 11-month high against an average of its top counterparts only to retreat and close the week essentially flat.

Traders appear willing to overlook growing tensions between the US and its top trading partners for now. Perhaps they have reasoned that bellicose tactics employed by President Donald Trump will yield to deal-making before long, echoing recent rapprochement with North Korea after months of intense sparring.

That seems fanciful. The targets of Mr. Trump’s ire are not as likely as Kim Jong-un to trade a media coup for nominal de-escalation. Officials in Canada and the EU must demonstrate strength to the own electorates, and China possesses retaliation levers that Pyongyang does not.

Friday marked the implementation of retaliatory EU tariffs responding to a hike in US duties on aluminum and steel. President Trump threatened to up the ante via Twitter, saying a 20 percent levy on cars imported from the region would soon follow if the regional bloc does not back off.

EU leaders gathering for a summit next week may unveil wider-reaching countermeasures as Mr. Trump digs in. Preliminary meetings between German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macro as well as her coalition partners may offer a steady stream of soundbites keeping trade wars in the headlines.

Meanwhile, China has hinted via official news outlets that it will aim its response to US trade barriers at blue-chip corporates. The goal is to inspire their considerable lobbying efforts to be directed at nudging the President to soften his stance.

A report from the US Treasury department outlining investment restrictions and export controls on Chinese investment in strategic technologies and industries may well spur Beijing into action. It is due by week’s end but the famously vocal and hyperactive Mr. Trump may opt to lock horns on the matter earlier.