Newsman: President Joe Biden is headed to Japan Wednesday week to attend the G-7 summit but said he will cut short the remainder of his trip abroad so he can return to Washington “to be back for the final negotiations with congressional leaders” over the debt ceiling. He had planned to make visits afterward to Papua New Guinea and then to the Quad Summit in Australia. Biden will instead return to Washington on Sunday.
The president was scheduled to leave Wednesday for Hiroshima.
Biden said he had already spoken with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain why he was postponing his visit. The stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea were meant to affirm the U.S. commitment to the Pacific as China’s influence in the region rises.
“There was an overwhelming consensus, I think in today’s meeting with congressional leaders, that defaulting on the debt is simply not an option. Our economy would fall into recession,” Biden said.
The stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea were meant to affirm the U.S. commitment to the Pacific as China’s influence in the region rises.
Biden’s visit to Australia was meant to strengthen the Quad alliance — comprised of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India — but Kirby noted that Biden would still be able to spend time with those nations’ leaders in Japan.
