US to chide Germany on eurozone growth at G7 meeting

The official added that "Europe's surplus countries hold the key" to kickstarting the eurozone economy and increasing employment, highlighting the reduction of Germany's 7 percent export surplus.

Meanwhile, the eurozone should "recalibrate fiscal consolidation programmes" and avoid "excessively sharp consolidation."

European leaders in the G7 are keen to focus the informal discussions on automatic exchange of information on foreign-held bank accounts as part of wider talks on combating tax evasion and avoidance.

The US, meanwhile, has made it clear that its priority is bolstering Europe's fragile economy.

The US stance is likely to meet resistance from the German government, which is reluctant to increase wages and stimulate domestic spending, preferring instead to keep wages low to encourage manufacturing and exports.

But Berlin is under pressure to reduce its 7 percent export surplus. In April, Lew used his first trip to Berlin as Treasury Secretary to urge counterpart Wolfgang Schaueble to put in place measures to stimulate consumer spending.

For his part, Schaueble commented that neither the US or Germany should try to give "lessons" or "grades" to each other.

Last week the EU's Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, regarded as one of the bloc's leading hawks on deficit cutting, indicated that France and Spain would be given an additional two years to reduce their deficits to the 3 percent threshold laid out in the EU's budget rules.

Rehn has also in recent weeks sought to underline that the pace of deficit reduction will slow in 2013 to an average of 0.75 percent of GDP, down from 1.75 percent in 2012.