财政部长史蒂文·穆努钦表示，他在达沃斯抨击气候活动家格雷塔·纽伦堡在周六伦敦的一次活动中“有点开玩笑”。

姆努钦在查塔姆大厦的一次会议上说，他本周早些时候的评论，即17岁的他应该去上大学学习经济学，是有意开玩笑的。

他还表示，美国“准备投入大量资源”与英国达成贸易协议，但猛烈抨击了英国提议对数字服务征收的“歧视性税收”。

周六在英国首都停留之前，财政部长和唐纳德·特朗普总统一起出席了瑞士达沃斯世界经济论坛。

在全球精英聚会上，姆努钦将矛头指向了纽伦堡，指责她推动停止对化石燃料的投资和进一步的环保要求。

是的据报告的在假装不知道自己是谁之后，穆努钦建议纽伦堡去上大学，学习经济学。

但这位活动家周四回击了社交媒体，在推特上写道:“我的间隔年将于8月结束，但不需要大学经济学学位就能意识到我们剩余的1.5碳预算和正在进行的化石燃料补贴和投资不相符合。”

史蒂文·穆努钦参加了2020年1月21日在达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛年会。

穆努钦周六在伦敦查塔姆大厦发表讲话时说:“你们中的一些人可能已经注意到，我在达沃斯的一次新闻发布会上发表了一篇评论，这篇评论的本意是开玩笑。

“我在新闻发布会上评论说，这是一个笑话，但它似乎引起了很多关注。”

他补充道:“我在达沃斯发表的评论是，有许多重要问题会影响全球经济，我只是希望我们能平衡这些其他问题，我们谈论这些其他问题就像谈论环境一样。”

在周六的问答环节中，财长还谈到了美国和英国之间的一项预期贸易协议，称美国“准备投入大量资源”达成协议。

但他也猛烈抨击了英国政府提议的数字服务税，称特朗普政府在他之后认为这是“歧视性的”达沃斯警告继续推行这项政策可能会导致对汽车公司征收报复性税收。

英国财政大臣赛义德贾维德提出的政策将对大型跨国科技公司征收2%的税，包括搜索引擎公司和社交媒体平台。

“很明显，这是我今天早上和财政大臣一起吃早餐时提出来的。我们认为数字服务税是一种歧视性税收。我们认为这不合适，”Mnuchin说。

“话虽如此，我们正在[经济合作与发展组织(OECD for Economic Co-operation and Development)工作，看看我们能否解决所有这些国际税收问题。”

早些时候，财政部长表示，英国是美国“最重要的关系”，目标是在今年年底前达成一项贸易协议。

“我认为从美国的角度来看，我们准备投入大量资源，”他补充道。

穆努钦接着说，英国会有“某些问题”“也许需要与欧盟解决”在与美国达成协议之前。

财政部长本周出席世界经济论坛时表示，英国退出欧盟会议后与英国的贸易协定将“列在贸易协定的首位”伦敦时报 据报告的，并指出政府的目标是在今年年底前达成协议。

“我们已经开始与欧盟进行转换，”他进一步补充道。"我们期待着与他们一起取得进展。"

STEVEN MNUCHIN SAYS GRETA THUNBERG JIBE WAS 'SOMEWHAT IN JEST' FOLLOWING DAVOS CLASH

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his Davos jab at the climate activist Greta Thunberg was "somewhat in jest" at a London event on Saturday.

Mnuchin told a Chatham House meeting that his comments earlier this week, that the 17-year-old should to go to college and study economics, were intended as a joke.

He also said the U.S. is "prepared to dedicate a lot of resources" to a trade deal with the U.K. but hit out at a "discriminatory tax" the country has proposed on digital services.

Before his stop in the U.K. capital Saturday, the treasury secretary appeared at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos with President Donald Trump.

At the gathering of global elites, Mnuchin took aim at Thunberg over her push for an end to investment in fossil fuels and further environmentalist demands.

It was reported that Mnuchin suggested Thunberg should go to college and study economics, after pretending to not know who she was.

But the activist hit back on social media on Thursday, tweeting: "My gap year ends in August, but it doesn't take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don't add up."

Steven Mnuchin attends a session during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, on January 21, 2020.

Speaking at Chatham House in London on Saturday, Mnuchin said: "Some of you may have noticed I made a comment at a press conference in Davos which was intended to be said somewhat in jest.

"I commented in a press conference that this was a joke, but it seems to have caught a lot of attention."

He added: "The comment I made in Davos is there are a lot of important issues that impact the global economy, and I just hope that we balance these other issues, and we talk about these other issues as much as we talk about the environment."

During Saturday's question-and-answer session, the treasury secretary also spoke about a prospective trade deal between the U.S. and U.K., claiming that America was "prepared to dedicate a lot of resources" to an agreement.

But he also hit out at a digital services tax proposed by the U.K. government, saying the Trump administration viewed it as "discriminatory" after he warned at Davos that going ahead with the policy could lead to retaliatory taxes on car companies.

The policy proposed by U.K. chancellor Sajid Javid would see a 2 percent tax placed on big multinational tech companies, including search engine firms and social media platforms.

"It obviously came up at my breakfast with the chancellor this morning. We believe that the digital service tax is a discriminatory tax. We don't think it's appropriate," Mnuchin said.

"Having said that, we are working at the [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] to see if we can deal with all these international tax issues."

Earlier in the event, the treasury boss said the U.K. was America's "most important relationship" and the goal was to have a trade deal agreed on by the end of this year.

"I think from the U.S. standpoint we're prepared to dedicate a lot of resources," he added.

Mnuchin went on to say that there would be "certain issues" the U.K. would "perhaps need to resolve with the EU" before an agreement with the U.S. could be finalized.

Appearing at the World Economic Forum this week, the treasury secretary said a post-Brexit trade deal with the United Kingdom would be "at the top of the list of trade agreements," The Times of London reported, noting that the administration aimed to have a deal done by the end of this year.

"We've already started the conversions with the EU," he further added. "We look forward to making progress with them."