Republicans should trigger default if no spending cuts: Trump

Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Republican legislators to refuse to raise the US debt limit, triggering a default, if President Joe Biden's Democrats don't agree to spending cuts.

"I say that the Republicans out there congressmen, senators, if they don't give you massive cuts, you're gonna have to do a default," Trump, a frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination, said during a live appearance on CNN.

The lifting of the so-called debt ceiling -- a limit on government borrowing to pay for bills already incurred -- is often routine.

But budget-minded Republicans, who won control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, have vowed to only raise the limit from its current $31.4 trillion maximum if spending curbs are enacted.

In his comments during a "town hall" on CNN, Trump added, however, that he sees such a scenario as unlikely.

"I don't believe they're going to do it before because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don't want to have that happen," added Trump. "But it's better than what we're doing right now. Because we're spending money like drunken sailors."

The US government has never intentionally defaulted on its debt, and some economists warn that the effects on financial markets may be calamitous.

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