A senior economist from the U.K. on Saturday expressed concern over a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies, saying that the scenario would be really "damaging."

Lord Nicolas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and president of the Royal Economic Society, made the remarks on the sidelines of an economic summit, ahead of the annual China Development Forum.

Commenting on the recently developed China-U.S. trade row, he refers to Trump's move to impose new tariffs on China with the purpose of reducing trade deficit as "a mistake."

"The U.S. deficit is there because the country spends more than its income, [which] is how a deficit arises and is a macro-economic phenomenon," he said. "To blame the trade deficit on one particular country is a misunderstanding in economics."

Earlier this week, Trump has announced plans to impose tariffs on up to US$60 billion of Chinese goods, which has rattled markets and stoked fears of a trade war, prompting China to consider retaliated measures to balance the losses.

Stern said the potential trade war between the world's two largest economies could be really "damaging," and is reminded of the world recession between the first and second world wars that was largely produced by trade protectionism.

He claims Trump's trade intervention comes from fears of a continuous economic decline in some parts of the country such as the Rust Belt, which is actually caused "firstly by technological changes and secondarily through globalization."

He hoped that good sense would soon prevail to keep a potential trade war at bay.