According to the White House, talks about raising the debt ceiling in the USA are proving difficult. Two new rounds of negotiations between the Republicans and the government ended without a result.
In Washington, another round of negotiations between US Republicans and the government of President Joe Biden on the debt dispute ended without a result. “We had a very, very open conversation about where we are and where we need to be,” Republican Rep. Garret Graves told reporters after the meeting. But that wasn’t negotiation.
Just yesterday, both sides had sent out encouraging signals. However, the Republican negotiators left an initial conversation on Friday only about an hour after it began, as US media reported. Although they returned to the negotiating table in the evening (local time), this meeting also ended without a result. White House senior adviser Steve Ricchetti then exited the boardroom and told reporters he did not want to judge the talks.
White House: “Serious differences”
“We have serious differences,” said US government spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. US President Joe Biden is confident that there is a way forward and that a solution is possible. Biden was also closely involved in the negotiations during his participation in the G7 summit.
Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the debt dispute will also be discussed at the President’s talks in Hiroshima. “It’s definitely an issue of interest here at the G7,” Sullivan said. Other countries wanted to know how the negotiations were going. “And the President has expressed confidence that he believes an outcome can be reached that will prevent a default.” However, he emphasized that the topic did not trigger “an alarm” at the G7 summit.
It’s about $31.4 trillion
The background is that the US government is threatened with a default at the beginning of June. The debate is about raising the federal debt ceiling by $31.4 trillion. If no agreement can be reached, the government could no longer pay its bills at the beginning of June. In the USA, parliament sets such a limit at irregular intervals and determines how much money the state can borrow.
This time, the procedure has degenerated into bitter partisan wrangling that is dangerous for the US and beyond: A default by the world’s largest economy could trigger a global financial crisis and an economic downturn. Because of the domestic political dispute, Biden’s participation in the G7 summit in Japan was at times even on the brink. He finally canceled the second part of his trip abroad – a visit to Papua New Guinea and Australia – to return to Washington on Sunday right after the Hiroshima deliberations.