In a now-deleted Instagram post, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said she stood with climate activist Greta Thunburg despite her husband claiming the 16-year-old needs to study economics. “I stand with Greta on this issue. (I don't have a degree in economics either) We need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels,” Louise Linton wrote in the post, along with a picture of Thunberg and her husband. “Keep up the fight @gretathunberg.”
According to Bloomberg, Mnuchin was asked to comment about Thunberg and it sparked debate over the economics of climate change while he was at the World Economic Forum earlier this week. “Is she the chief economist?” he quipped. “After she goes and studies economics in college, she can go back and explain that to us.” On Saturday, he claimed the remark was made “in jest.” “I commented at the press conference that this was a joke, but it seems to have caught a lot of attention,” he said.