T'SanakI do not remember, but two factions entered a pending state of war by equalizing their influence. Can war be avoided during that pending state by creating a differential during these 3 days of pending through trade?
The States can be put into three categories.
1st Priority
War and Civil War (armed conflicts) as well as Elections (peaceful conflict) are on top of all other States out there, and will cancel any other that is currently active when they go live as well.
Some lower category states will be removed completely when pending as well, while others will still be pending and just put on halt.
2nd Priority
Expansions, Retreats and Investment States are in this category.
They will cancel out any of the lower ranked states when going live.
3rd Priority
Boom, Bust, Civil Unrest, Famine, Lockdown, Outbreak are in the lowest category.
All of those States can be avoided from going active if enough appropriate action is taken against them in their pending phase.
Though I've yet to hear from someone that doesn't want a Boom from happening.
Since we're talking top priority States here, the answer is that it cannot be avoided. However, if you're working for one side in the pending phase you can create a big enough % gap. Resulting in the War lasting only it's minimum duration of 4 days total.