Washington appears to have abandoned its “honest broker” position in the “Greek crisis” in urging the Tsipras government in Athens to reach a deal with creditors.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew called on Alexis Tsipras to “make a serious move to reach a pragmatic” compromise, as a Treasury spokesperson said in Washington.

Lew also told Greece’s pre-eminent radical leftist that the global economy could also suffer as a result of a failed bid to work out some type of agreement between the cash-strapped Greek government and institutional lenders — borrowing from the open market remains a very, very distant prospect.

“Failure to reach an agreement would create immediate hardship for Greece and broad uncertainties for Europe and the global economy,” was the phrase attributed to Lew.

No information was given on what Tsipras’ response entailed.