WASHINGTON (voa) – President Bush says he sees important progress in the Middle East and has called on Israel to negotiate an end to its occupation of Palestinian territories.
Speaking after an annual summit with European Union leaders in Washington, Mr. Bush also said now is the time for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to “show the world he is capable of leading.”
Earlier Thursday, Israel released Mr. Arafat from confinement to his Ramallah compound.
President Bush said the United States and the EU share a common vision of Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in security. He said a Palestinian state cannot be based on a foundation of terror or corruption.
President Bush held talks in Washington Thursday with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose country currently holds the rotating E.U. presidency, and European Commission President Romano Prodi.
Mr. Aznar stressed that the summit strengthened ties between the E.U. and the United States, and he pointed to successful trans-Atlantic cooperation in the war against terrorism.
But the summit failed to produce a breakthrough on a simmering U.S.-E.U. dispute over new U.S. steel tariffs and other trade issues. Mr. Prodi said the European Union continues to question the legitimacy of U.S. tariffs on steel, adding that both sides have agreed to abide by World Trade Organization rules.
In March, the White House imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on a wide range of steel products. In response, the E.U. is threatening to target U.S. products from citrus to textiles, produced in a range of states considered crucial to President Bush’s Republican Party in congressional elections this November.
U.S. officials have warned the European Union not to retaliate before the World Trade Organization has had a chance to rule on the new tariffs.
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick are holding two extra days of talks to try and defuse the trade disputes. Some trade experts fear the world’s two biggest trading powers are on the brink of a trade war that could do serious harm to the global economy.
