U.S. economy still faces "very tough challenges"

Europe's debt crisis, higher oil prices and the year-end budget cuts and tax increases still remain risks to the U.S. economy, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

"We still live in a dangerous and uncertain world, with Europe confronting a severe and protracted crisis," Geithner said in remarks prepared for the Greater Baltimore Committee group of regional businesses and non-profit organizations.

But although Geithner said the United States was facing "very tough challenges," he said they were manageable.

"I prefer our challenges to those of any economy anywhere in the world," he said, adding that he believed that the simultaneous expiration of U.S. tax breaks and the threat of budget cuts presented an opportunity for politicians to find a way to put the country on a more sustainable fiscal path.

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