The president’s threats to slap duties on goods imported from the European Union are part of a pattern of directing the harshest penalties at the United States’ closest allies.

US President Donald Trump ramped up his tariff threats to the European Union while saying he would speak with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, as stock markets sank following a hectic weekend that saw prospects for a trade war turn into reality.

Some of the purported concessions that led to a 30-day pause on the tariffs were things Canada and Mexico had already done before Trump’s threat, but it’s complicated.