FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin arrives for a news conference at the G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 22, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciREUTERS/ /File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that he believes the quickening pace of growth in the nation’s economy in the second quarter will persist for the next few years.

“I don’t think this is a one- or two-year phenomenon. I think we definitely are in a period of four or five years of sustained 3 percent growth at least,” Mnuchin said in an interview with ‘Fox News Sunday.’

The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter - at a 4.1 percent rate - as consumers boosted spending and farmers rushed shipments of soybeans to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs before they took effect in early July.

Economists have cautioned against putting much weight on the surge, with the soybean boost seen likely to reverse in the coming quarters and the fiscal stimulus seen fading in 2019.