NEW YORK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The credit rating agency Fitch Ratings announced Wednesday it has placed the U.S. AAA-rated long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating on a "negative watch" as the debt ceiling deadlock continued.

"The Rating Watch Negative reflects increased political partisanship that is hindering reaching a resolution to raise or suspend the debt limit," the agency said in a statement.

Despite reaching the 31.4 trillion U.S. dollar debt limit in January, discussions between the White House and congressional leaders only began on May 9, less than a month before the estimated date of a U.S. government default on its debt obligations.