Mnuchin on Greta's Fossil Fuels Comment: Go to College

Treasury secretary takes a jab at Swedish climate activist at Davos
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2020 6:12 AM CST
Updated Jan 23, 2020 7:02 AM CST
Mnuchin on Greta's Fossil Fuels Comment: Go to College
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, at the podium, speaks as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, second from right, and President Trump, right, listen during a signing ceremony for "phase one" of a US-China trade agreement in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 15, 2020, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The person from the Trump administration usually criticizing Greta Thunberg is President Trump himself. On Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, however, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decided to get in on the action with a jab against the 17-year-old Swedish climate activist. The talk had turned to companies in the public and private sector divesting from fossil fuels, a concept pushed by Thunberg, and Mnuchin was asked about the idea. "Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I'm confused," he replied jokingly.

"After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us," added Mnuchin, who MarketWatch notes does hold a Yale economics degree, though "his scientific training is less clear." Not that Trump didn't have his own thoughts about Thunberg at Davos. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the summit, Trump told the paper "I don't really know anything about her," then called her "very angry." Reuters, however, notes the president said he wished he'd seen her speak at Davos. (Thunberg indirectly poked at Trump in her own Davos speech.)

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