For the better part of a day, it seemed as if the panic that Donald Trump’s trade war unleashed had largely subsided as U.S. equities built on the strong rallies in Asia and Europe.

But as the session wore on, that optimism slowly, then quickly, gave way, replaced by the kind of vexing bouts of volatility that had punctuated markets and pushed stock losses past $10 trillion in the past three days.

Ultimately, investors in markets from stocks to bonds and currencies were once again left trying to answer the same uneasy question: Is the U.S. president truly willing to risk a worldwide recession to rewire global trade?