| Donald Trump is almost two weeks away from returning to the White House and yet his tariff plans are already causing whiplash in financial markets. And for anyone paying attention, there's a lesson to be had there in what's coming. The US dollar registered its biggest slump in two months after the Washington Post reported that the president-elect's economic advisers were devising a plan to focus his tariff ire on imports of strategic products rather than all imports, as the incoming president flagged during the campaign. The whole narrative took a U-turn though when Trump weighed in with a social media post declaring the story had it all wrong. The dollar bounced back and Wall Street analysts started pushing out notes on what it all meant. Bloomberg's Cameron Crise DiscussesShifting Tides of US Tariff Narrative The market reaction was a reminder of the inexorable link between the US currency and Trump's tariffs. As Trump's own economists will tell you, if a country hikes tariffs, its currency will tend to appreciate by a roughly equal amount. The real lesson though from this episode is about process. Trump's policies last time emerged from a combination of presidential whim and rigorous (sometimes ugly) debate between his advisers. And those advisers spoke to reporters who wrote what they heard. All of which ended up yielding financial market reactions, which may or may not have ended up affecting how or whether Trump went ahead with a policy. Back and Forth The way it all played out was like a particularly spiteful game of ping-pong between Trump's protectionists and his more market-minded advisers. The points went on and on until Trump got bored, grabbed the ball and declared a winner with a tweet. Some have argued that Trump 2.0 will be different. That his White House and policy machine will be more disciplined and unified in purpose. That the tariff naysayers inside his administration have moved on. Read More: Trump's Tariff Threats Set Off a Global Supply Chain 'Freakout' What Monday showed though is that there is still a vigorous debate going on over how to deliver Trump's promised import taxes. Moreover, it showed that the process of hashing it all out is likely to be messy again and that Trump will in the end decide how he wants to proceed. If anything, Trump's objection to Monday's reporting may have been more about image than substance. What may have gotten under his skin most was the characterization of his team softening on tariffs. But the process will go on. There will be more leaks and market swings. More enigmatic social media posts to be dissected for by investors and Wall Street strategists. Anyone up for a game of tariff ping-pong? —Shawn Donnan in Washington Click here for more of Bloomberg.com's most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping. | 
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