Maybe the tell was President Donald Trump patting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s leg during the pool spray. Maybe it was the news U.S. and EU flags were being set up in the Rose Garden. Or maybe it was Juncker just showing up in Washington in the first place.

That’s for daytraders to parse for the future. (Stocks DJIA, +0.19% surged after Dow Jones reported the outlines of the agreement, basically at same time the flags were set up.)

But for now, it’s worth noting the trade agreement between Trump and Juncker reached Wednesday was noticeably short of specifics. It was, more or less, an agreement to try to agree.

Yes, the EU will start buying U.S. soybeans — which helps, to some degree, lessen the pressure from new China tariffs. Europe will start examining the purchase of U.S. liquefied natural gas, and it also is proposing to consider dropping to zero the tariff rate on non-automotive industrials.

But that tentative pact has real-world consequences: In return for agreeing to talk more regularly, the two sides will dismantle steel and aluminum tariffs as well as not impose any new ones.

That’s a big development given that Trump has threatened jacking up tariffs on European auto imports.

Perhaps what happened is that Trump didn’t want to penalize the big auto-importing states — Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina — which maybe coincidentally, also voted for him in 2016.

The U.S. is still fighting a trade war on two other fronts, against China and against its North American neighbors. And it’s still in dispute with Europe even after the friendly talks.

But what Wednesday showed is that the White House does have limits and is willing to at least consider not letting things spiral out of control. And that may be as big a victory as realistically is possible in the current environment.