President Trump’s populist, antitrade deal rhetoric was always hard to believe coming from someone who outsourced production of his clothes and other merchandise to low-wage countries like China. Now it is becoming clearer that he has no coherent plan to lower the trade deficit or bring back lost manufacturing jobs. In fact, Mr. Trump’s promise of huge tax cuts might actually increase the trade deficit and hurt the very workers he says he supports.

In recent weeks the Trump administration has backed away from many of the president’s most ambitious trade promises. The Treasury Department has decided not to label China a currency manipulator and Mr. Trump said he would cut a favorable trade deal with Beijing if it agreed to help him with North Korea. The administration has also indicated that it will not seek sweeping changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which the president called the “worst trade deal” ever and has threatened to terminate. And his proposal to put in place a big border tax is going nowhere in Congress because of internal disagreements among Republicans. As he seems to be finding out about so many things, trade policy is a lot more complicated than Mr. Trump ever imagined.

On one level, the world can breathe a sigh of relief that Mr. Trump has backed away from his most incendiary rhetoric and his administration is not about to start disruptive trade wars with China, Mexico and other countries. Instead, his administration seems to be following the script used by previous governments to investigate complaints by American industries and labor groups about specific unfair trade practices.

For example, the Commerce Department said on Monday that it would impose tariffs of between 3 percent and 24 percent on Canadian lumber that it argues is being unfairly subsidized by provincial governments of that country. That decision is part of a long-running trade dispute that predates Mr. Trump’s election and could continue long after he has left office. Canadian officials will most likely challenge the tariffs at the World Trade Organization, a process that could unfold over months or years.