In response to the ongoing economic uncertainty and whiplash seen by global markets since the Trump administration imposed hefty tariffs on trading partners globally in early April, “Buckle up,” was the first statement made by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, in a Marcus & Millichap special webinar on April 21 titled “Real Recession Risk or Temporary Distraction?”
The good news is Zandi’s base case scenario does not include the United States experiencing a recession because he believes the Trump administration — already in a 90-day pause for negotiations on steep tariffs levied on countries other than China, which saw tariffs jump to 145 percent — will seek an “offramp” to the escalation with China, which has seen trade between the world’s two largest economies come to a virtual standstill.
Importantly, though, Zandi emphasized that taking this offramp “has to happen quickly,” within a few weeks or so, to ease growing stre
