The USA could be in default on June 1 if no deal is found in Congress to raise the federal borrowing limit, the Treasury secretary has warned again Janet Yellenbased on updated data.

This date, June 1, was announced by Mrs. Yellen at the beginning of May and she repeated yesterday Monday that it is valid, based on “the most recent information that is now available”, in her letter to the president of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy. The latter is expected to meet with other congressional leaders with Democratic President Joe Biden today as part of the effort to find a solution to the debt ceiling issue.

Mr McCarthy said yesterday that there had been no progress in marathon technocrat-level talks over the weekend.

Mr Biden is expected to leave for Japan on Wednesday, where he will attend the G7 summit, then travel to Australia. His trip abroad is expected to last a week.

In her second letter to Congress in as many weeks, Ms. Yellen warned again that if the borrowing limit ($31.4 trillion) is not raised, there will be a “constitutional crisis” and possible “financial disaster” for the US and many other countries. economies at an international level.

The Congressional Budget Office also warned last week that the US was at “serious risk” of defaulting within the first two weeks of June if no agreement is reached to raise the borrowing limit.

The US Treasury Secretary – a former chairman of the US central bank – called for action to be taken as soon as possible in her letter. “We have learned from past debt ceiling crises that waiting until the last minute to suspend or raise it can damage business and consumer confidence, raise the costs of short-term borrowing for taxpayers and to have a negative impact on the creditworthiness of the US,” he pointed out. He emphasized that the borrowing costs have already increased significantly for the securities that mature at the beginning of June.

“If Congress does not raise the borrowing limit it will cause serious hardship to American families, damage our global leadership and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests,” Ms. Yellen insisted in her new letter.