An agreement is not yet in sight: Biden accused the Republicans on Sunday of taking extreme positions. Some of the Republican negotiators’ proposals are simply “unacceptable,” he said at the final conference of the G7 summit in Japan. They must understand that there can be no bipartisan agreement that “exclusively, exclusively” follows their terms.
Biden said he was ready to cut government spending as Republicans demanded. But you also have to talk about state revenues – specifically about tax increases for top earners. The Republicans are not ready for that. He complained that there were considerable differences of opinion on this point. “We can reach an agreement,” Biden said. “A default is not an option.”
At the beginning of June, the US government is threatened with a default if Biden’s team does not reach an agreement with the Republicans in Congress to raise the debt ceiling by then. 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 tugging, which harbors great dangers: A default by the world’s largest economy could trigger a global financial crisis and an economic downturn.
The dispute had accompanied Biden during his visit to Japan. The President was regularly informed in Hiroshima about the status of the negotiations. Because of the dispute, his participation in the G7 summit was at times even on the brink. Biden eventually canceled a planned visit to Papua New Guinea and Australia to return directly to Washington from Hiroshima on Sunday.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX)
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