EU:The European Union and the United States agreed yesterday that global warming is an "urgent" priority. At a White House summit, Mr Bush, German chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso also said they were firmly dedicated to reaching agreement on a global trade pact under the often-stalled Doha round of talks.
They kept up pressure on Iran to forswear nuclear weapons given Tehran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment despite pressure.
It was Ms Merkel's first visit to Washington since she took over the rotating EU presidency, and she pushed the issue of global climate change in the hope of making it a big part of the agenda at a Group of Eight summit she is hosting in Germany next month.
At a joint news conference in the Rose Garden, the European side said it felt progress was made on the issue, despite there being no indication of concrete steps that the EU and the US can take together.
"I really welcome the fact that there was progress in this meeting," said Mr Barroso. "We agree there's a threat, there's a very serious and global threat. We agree that there is a need to reduce emissions. We agree that we should work together."
Mr Bush, who critics say was late to recognise climate change as a problem, made clear he felt any agreement between the US and Europe would have a limited impact if developing countries such as China are not included.
"The US could shut our economy and emit no greenhouse gases, and all it would take is for China in about 18 months to produce as much as we had been producing" to make up the difference, he said.
But Ms Merkel retorted that the developed world must lead the effort to reduce carbon emissions.
"If the developed countries with the best technologies do nothing, then it will be very tough to convince the others. Without convincing the others, worldwide CO2 emissions won't go down," she said.