Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics
Triumphant tones coming from the White House over the weekend are inconsequential, Moody's chief economist said Monday, deflating hopes that the U.S. is gaining major ground in its negotiations with China aimed at averting a trade war.
"I think it's a lose-lose. There are no winners here," Mark Zandi told CNBC's "
Squawk Box Europe" on Monday. "This is face-saving, because clearly they're not going come to terms on anything - at least, not in the near-team."
Zandi was referring to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's announcement Sunday that a looming trade war was "on hold" as the world's two largest economies agreed to drop their tariff threats and discuss parameters for a wider trade agreement.
China consented to continue discussing measures under which it would purchase more U.S. products in order to reduce the $335 billion annual trade deficit between the two, but no specific dollar number was put forward. Zandi pointed to this as evidence that neither Washington nor Beijing had a plan, nor did either know what it specifically was they wanted from the ongoing talks.
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