The cuts - known as the sequester¹（使隔绝，没收） and drawn² up two years ago - will take $85bn from the US federal budget this year.

 

Last-ditch talks at the White House to avert⁴ the reductions before Friday's deadline broke up without agreement.

 

The IMF has warned the cuts could slow global economic growth.

 

The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says the cuts were designed to be so brutally⁵ painful that politicians would be forced to agree on a better way of balancing the books.

 

However, as the midnight deadline loomed⁶ on Friday, Mr Obama and Republican congressional leaders still failed to agree on a way to avoid them.

 

The two sides are at odds⁷ over the president's insistence⁸ on raising taxes as part of any plan for tackling the country's $16.6 trillion debt.

 

After the White House talks broke up, Mr Obama blamed Republicans for the impasse⁹.

 

"They've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge³ on closing a single wasteful¹⁰ loophole to help reduce the deficit," he said.

 

He warned the cuts - if fully¹¹ realised - would slow US economic growth by half of 1% and cost 750,000 jobs.

 

"We shouldn't be making a series of dumb, arbitrary（任意的） cuts to things that businesses depend on and workers depend on," he said.

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