The president of the United States, Joe Biden did not rule out the possibility of missing the G7 meeting of heads of state and government scheduled for May 19-21 in Hiroshima, Japan, due to the political stalemate in Washington on raising the state's maximum debt limit federal.
“I'm still busy (to participate in the international summit), but obviously this is the most important issue on my agenda,” Biden said after yesterday's meeting with congressional leaders, which however did not help unblock the budget crisis. Biden specified that at the moment a cancellation of his trip to Japan for the G7 summit is "possible, but not probable".
The Japanese government spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno, said today that at the moment Tokyo “has not received any notice from the US government” regarding the possible absence of Biden.
Yesterday's meeting at the White House did not produce any progress in the negotiations between the Republicans in Congress and the White House on the need to raise the federal debt ceiling, thus avoiding the prospect of a default in the summer. The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, he told reporters that "both sides have reiterated their positions, and it does not appear to me that there have been any new developments". At the end of the meeting organized today at the White House, which was attended by President Joe Biden and the Republican and Democratic group leaders of the two chambers of Congress, McCarthy announced a new meeting for Friday 12 May.
Speaking to reporters after the White House meeting, Biden said a default "would be a disaster, and most lawmakers are well aware of that." When asked about the possibility of a temporary increase in the federal debt ceiling, which would allow the White House and the Republicans to continue the discussions and avoid a possible default this summer, the US president said that "I'm not ruling anything out, but I won't approve a budget that includes cuts that will cause damage to citizens and strategic sectors, such as that of renewable energy sources".
