The U. S. economy cannot continue to drive global growth and urged countries to reduce their deficits, U. S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

Geithner told the BBC on Thursday that the world "cannot depend as much on the (United States) as it did in the past."

Geithner said, "We all agree that we have to restore responsibility to our fiscal positions. Everyone agrees that those deficits have to come down over time to a level that's sustainable. The United States and Europe "have much more in common than we have differences."

Members are "focused on the challenge of (building) growth and confidence" in light of austerity measures many European countries have enacted in recent weeks to deal with the debt crisis, said Geithner, speaking ahead of the G20 Summit that beings Saturday in Toronto. (With Inputs from Agencies)