The tax row in the United States demonstrates that the sovereign debt crisis is not just a European problem but a global one, European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet said on Sunday.
Trichet also warned that the fragility of public finances on both sides of the Atlantic would make it impossible for Europe and the United States to bail out their banking sector a second time, making it imperative they get regulation of the sector right this time.
"We now have a crisis of public credit ratings which is not a European crisis, although Europeans are at the epicentre of a problem which is a global problem," Trichet told a business conference in southern France.
"You just have to follow the debate on the other side of the Atlantic in the United States on tax to understand that we are witnessing a global problem."
US President Barack Obama will seek on Sunday to salvage high-stakes talks to raise the national debt ceiling by an August 2 deadline, in a bid to avoid Washington's first-ever default on its financial obligations. Republican lawmakers are strongly opposed to plans for higher taxes as part of a wider deal.