That seemed to occur this weekend. The United States and China issued a joint statement on trade and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, said planned tariffs on $150 billion of Chinese goods were on hold. China did not seem to commit to much that is concrete to gain a reprieve from the tariffs, a notable achievement for the country’s negotiators.

The joint statement said China would significantly increase its imports from the United States, but it did not say how much more it would buy and over what time period. The parts of the statement about investing in each other’s country and protecting intellectual property were even vaguer.

President Trump on Monday nevertheless promoted the statement as a win. But influential members of his administration who are still spoiling for a big trade fight will no doubt want to keep up the pressure on China — and Mr. Trump may at times share their desire in the coming months. Still, the events of recent weeks show that the United States was largely isolated in its trade fights and the Trump administration may have lacked the resolve or unity to keep up its hard-edged approach. The Trump administration can, of course,reintroduce the threat of tariffs if it believes China is failing to make concessions in the proceeding trade talks. But after stepping back this weekend, it will be harder for the Trump administration to make an aggressive stance appear credible.

Indeed, the big question hanging over the Trump administration: Why did it withdraw its tariff threat now, before exacting hard, quantifiable concessions from China? One reason may be that the United States needs China’s help in dealing with North Korea ahead of Mr. Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un planned for June. Another reason may be that China was up for a long fight with the United States and signaled so. Whatever the cause, the takeaway for investors is that the Trump administration passed up an opportunity to show China that it meant what it said.

Still, investors may not want to relax too much. Mr. Trump’s popularity has been rising even as he made combative moves on the trade front that at times roiled the market. In other words, there does not appear to be much political risk domestically, if any, to taking on China, and so Mr. Trump may use belligerent trade talk to stir up his base ahead of the midterm elections in November.

But as long as he steps back from taking tough actions, investors will most likely take his rhetoric in stride. That stance has served them well. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is now up from where it was in mid-February when the Trump administration outlined its case for steel and aluminum tariffs.

- Peter Eavis