The US Treasury Secretary has said Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is in no position to give economic advice until she goes to college and comes out with a degree.
At a World Economic Forum press briefing, Steven Mnuchin made a dig at the environmental campaigner for her recommendation that public and private sectors should move away from fossil fuels.
When asked how that would affect the US economic model, Mr Mnuchin took a swipe at the 17-year-old, asking if she was an economist.
He said that “after she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us”.
Ms Thunberg also faced criticism from the US President at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
Referring to the teen, Donald Trump told a packed room at the Swiss ski resort of Davos that environmental activists could not be so negative.
He also revealed he would be planting a trillion trees in America, but also spoke at length about the economic importance of oil and gas.
“This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for optimism,” he said.
“Fear and doubt is not a good thought process because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action.”
He added: “To embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse.”
In a later speech at the forum, Ms Thunberg swiped back at Mr Trump and said: “You say children shouldn’t worry... don’t be so pessimistic and then, nothing, silence.”
She added: “We need to start listening to the science, and treat this crisis with the importance it deserves.
“Without treating it as a real crisis we cannot solve it.”
The environmental campaigner has faced criticism from Mr Trump in the past and the president said she had an “anger management problem” after she was named Time person of the Year.
