Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, in Washington to meet US officials, predicted today that President George W. Bush would play a less personal role in the North's peace process than his predecessor Bill Clinton.
Mr Trimble told a news conference before meeting the State Department's top European official, Ambassador James Dobbins, that the Bush administration seemed to be stepping back and taking a good, hard look at US foreign policies.
"It's a natural and desirable thing to do," he added.
Asked if Northern Irish politicians expected the United States to get engaged at the highest levels in future, he replied, "There isn't an expectation of that nature. People recognize that President Clinton's involvement involved very much a very strong personal interest.
"But bearing in mind the wish for European stability," he said, "There is clearly an interest there that the United States would have, irrespective of whoever was in the White House."
Mr Trimble said he met Vice President Dick Cheney at a conference of the American Conservative Union yesterday but told Reuters he had not formed a clear impression of how the Bush administration had intended to proceed.