PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he wants the U.S. Congress to extend the nation's debt ceiling, adding that he did not want to see the federal government default on its debt, which currently tops $36 trillion.

"I just don't want to see a default. That's all I want," Trump told reporters at his Florida resort.

The last congressional suspension of the debt ceiling, agreed to in 2023, expired at the end of the year, and since then the Treasury Department has been using extraordinary measures to avert default.