On Saturday, Mr. Trump ordered 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada — partners in a trade bloc that he himself signed in his first term — and 10 percent tariffs on China. Mexico and Canada immediately vowed to retaliate, and China said it would consider “countermeasures.” Europe, Mr. Trump promised in recent days, was next: “The European Union has treated us so terribly.”

Of course, the United States, with the planet’s largest and strongest economy, cannot be ignored. But it can, at least sometimes, be avoided.

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