UNITED STATES: On his first foreign trip since the Iraq war next week, President Bush has signalled that he would be taking up arms in Europe - this time in a trade war between Washington and Brussels that threatens to sour the atmosphere at the G8 summit in France in early June, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor.
Mr Bush will leave the United States on May 30th to visit Poland, Russia and France, where he will attend the G-8 Summit hosted by French President Jacques Chirac in the French Alps, the White House announced yesterday.
In a major policy speech yesterday, Mr Bush accused "our partners in Europe" of impeding efforts to alleviate world hunger by banning genetically modified foods.
"They have blocked all new bio-crops because of unfounded, unscientific fears," he told Coast Guard graduates at New London, Connecticut.
"This has caused many African nations to avoid investing in biotechnologies, for fear their products will be shut out of European markets. European governments should join - not hinder - the great cause of ending hunger in Africa."
The US has brought a case to the World Trade Organisation against the EU's ban on genetically modified food, which is hitting US agricultural exports to Europe and other regions. For its part, Brussels is on the brink of imposing $4 billion in trade sanctions against America, authorised by the WTO, for indirect foreign sales subsidies ruled illegal by the world trade body.
Anticipating opposition to US foreign policy on his visits, Mr Bush defended the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan in a speech yesterday, arguing that it fell into a historical crusade for freedom waged by the United States.
"We are the nation that liberated continents and concentration camps," Mr Bush said. "We are the nation of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift and the Peace Corps. We are the nation that ended the oppression of Afghan women, and we are the nation that closed the torture chambers of Iraq."
As Mr Bush spoke, dozens of demonstrators picketed the Coast Guard academy with protest signs, including one which said "What lies next, Mr Bush?"
The United States, which has one of the smallest foreign aid budgets among wealthy nations as a percentage of its gross domestic product, would set up a $200 million fund to fight famine, Mr Bush said, and he called on other nations "to follow our lead by establishing their own emergency funds."
He also proposed "that all developed nations, including our partners in Europe, immediately eliminate subsidies on agricultural exports to developing countries so that they can produce more food to export and more food to feed their own people." Both the US and the EU heavily subsidise agriculture products.
He proposed the creation of a new Millennium Challenge Account from which money would go only to developing nations whose governments met three broad standards: "They must rule justly; they must invest in the health and education of their people; and they must have policies that encourage economic freedom." Mr Bush said he would sign a Bill next week authorising $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in 14 African and Caribbean countries.