To say that President Donald Trump clearly thrives on political and economic chaos isn’t really staking out a political position. It’s just stating a fact. Will Trump being an agent of chaos in the end be a good thing for markets, employment and the general welfare of Americans in coming decades?

That’s our Question of the Week for readers.

Last week, Trump’s announcement of massive tariffs — well above the numbers he’d campaigned on — on goods imported from every country in the world sent Wall Street and other equities exchanges around the globe plunging in a panic of a sell-off. Trillions of dollars of (on paper) worth was expunged from most Americans’ stock portfolios. The dollar went into free fall against the euro. And Trump first said he would absolutely stay the course.

Then, when the all-important stability of the U.S. bond markets seemed threatened as well, Trump surprised his aides and advisers and abruptly reversed course, postponing most new tariffs while keeping huge ones on Chinese goods. Then even that tariff was modified to exclude the one most expensive thing made in China in most Americans’ possession — mobile phones.

Is there, in the end, a method to the madness?

Is the president, who obviously has had several successful business careers as a developer and a TV star, really playing four-dimensional chess here, gaming at a level few mere mortals can understand in his pursuit of a greater economy for Americans?

Or is the chaos he creates really just ... chaos? Did he not in fact realize the extent to which his tariff orders would cut into the life savings of millions of Americans, so that he was forced by circumstance to change course against his will?

If the latter is the case, will the president have learned something from what went down last week, and change his approach in the future? Or, if the former is the case, what will be the next arena around the world into which Trump will inject some unusual tactic in the service of his change-based agenda?

Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).