Nouriel Roubini, the economist better known as Dr Doom, says he expects the trade war between the US and China to get worse before it gets better.

The policy expert, who in 2006 correctly predicted the financial crisis, spoke at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece hours after Trump pressed the pause button on his trade war with everyone except Beijing.

“I fear that even if they sit down and try to negotiate… with China it’s a bigger mess and mostly likely, for now, we are escalating rather than de-escalating,” he said.

Roubini added that China is worried the US “is out to destroy it” both economically and militarily.

“Therefore,” he adds, “for the time being this game of chicken between the US and China is going to continue, the question is, who is going to blink, whether they can sit down and find a grand bargain.”

Despite this, Roubini said he still thought a US recession was avoidable.

“They call me Dr Doom, but I’ve always been a contrarian. Wall Street has been predicting a recession, but I actually think it is avoidable. I might as well be Dr Boom.”