Germany said on Wednesday it "regrets" the shutdown of the US federal government but said that the economic impact should remain limited if deadlock ended within two weeks.

In Paris, Finance and Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici told a cabinet meeting meanwhile that the US budget blockage could slow down recovery in France, the French government spokeswoman said.

In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters: "The German government is following the developments and events in the United States very closely and we regret that there has not yet been a resolution of the conflict over the US budget.

"We hope that there will be progress soon that will allow the conflict to end."

An economy ministry spokeswoman said she was unaware of any German companies reporting cancelled US contracts due to the shutdown.

"Our experts say that if the affected time period of the spending freeze remains short and there is an agreement within two weeks then the economic impact in the United States but also abroad should not be significant."

A rancorous dispute over President Barack Obama's health care law saw the colossal machinery of the US government largely paralysed for a second day Wednesday in the first such shutdown in 17 years.

Moscovici told the French government that it appeared that each day of the budget crisis had a big financial cost for the United States and that this would affect its trading partners.