Biden allowed the cancellation of the trip to the G7 summit due to the problem with public debt

US President Joe Biden said he could refuse to travel to the G7 summit, which will be held in Japan from May 19 to 21, if the situation with the US national debt is not resolved. At the same time, he called such a scenario “unlikely.”

“If we <...> still have not resolved this issue, and if the dates would fall on the time of my absence, I would not go. I would stay until this is over,” he said (quote by Interfax).

Biden added that the issue of national debt is “the most important thing on the agenda.”

Earlier, the American leader held a meeting with Congress on the issue of raising the national debt ceiling. During the meeting, the risk of default on public debt was discussed, Biden said. According to him wordswith such a development of events, the consequences will be “catastrophic”, and the US economy will fall into “a serious recession”.

The next meeting with Congress will take place on May 12. This was announced by Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, specifying that the meeting did not bring any changes on the issue of raising the debt ceiling.

May 7 US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen warnedthat by June 1, the US may face default if the country does not pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling.

This is not the first time the US has reached the national debt limit. In December 2021, Biden raised the limit by $2.5 trillion to $31.4 trillion. However, already in January 2023, the limit was reached again.

In this regard, at the end of April, the US House of Representatives approved raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion to $32.9 trillion. The bill, announced by Republican Kevin McCarthy, also calls for $4.5 trillion in parallel spending cuts. Democrats do not support the proposal.