U.S. President Joe Biden canceled the second leg of his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia for the G7 summit to continue debt ceiling negotiations.
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Biden will travel to Japan tomorrow to attend the summit, but will return to Washington earlier than planned in view of the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the Republicans to increase the debt limit, reached at the beginning of the year and which threatens to plunge the country into a historic default on its public debt.
The official White House website reported that “the President spoke with Prime Minister Albanese earlier today to inform him that he will postpone his trip to Australia.”
“The President’s team reached out to the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s team to inform him as well,” the website reported.
Statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on President Biden’s Travel to Australia and Papua New Guineahttps://t.co/vVQuN3oAKi
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec)
May 16, 2023
John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, had already advanced during a press conference that the president was re-evaluating the rest of his trip to Asia in the face of difficulties in reaching an agreement with Congress.
According to presidential spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden will return to Washington on Sunday, immediately after the G7 summit, and will not go to Sydney or stop in Papua New Guinea on the way, as he had initially planned.
Biden will return Sunday to “meet with congressional leaders” and ensure that lawmakers “act before the deadline to avoid default.”
