President Bush has sought to play down differences between Washington and the EU and declared that a strong Europe represents no challenge to the United States. Speaking in Gothenburg after a meeting with the EU Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, and Sweden's Mr Goeran Persson, Mr Bush said that he did not view EU and US ambitions as a zero-sum game.
"I view a strong EU as good for the world," he said.
Although the two sides put a brave face on their differences, they were unable to hide their failure to agree common positions on such issues as climate change and trade. Officials worked through the night until yesterday morning in the hope of agreeing an agenda for a new round of world trade talks later this year. But the joint communique said only that the EU and the US had "made progress" towards their shared goal.
The two sides agreed to disagree on the Kyoto protocol on climate change but Mr Bush insisted his opposition to the protocol did not mean that the US was not concerned about global warming. "The US is committed to addressing climate change. We agreed to create new channels of co-operation on this point," he said.
The President smiled when he was asked why no European country had yet ratified the Kyoto protocol and said he would be interested in hearing what Mr Prodi had to say on the subject. A clearly rattled Mr Prodi said that no EU member state had declared their intention not to ratify the protocol and that the ratification process was under way in some European countries.
Mounted police charged protesters who threw stones and bottles at police lines surrounding a school where demonstrators had gathered for a day of anti-globalisation and anti-American demonstrations.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Gothenburg to protest against capital punishment, Mr Bush's stance on global warming and his plans for a missile defence system. One protester carried a banner that read: "Cut CO2 emissions - burn Bushes."
Within minutes of meeting Mr Bush yesterday, Mr Persson addressed the issue of capital punishment, telling the President that the deep differences between the EU and the US on the issue illustrated the limits of their shared values.
By the time they faced the press, however, the leaders were determined to accentuate the positive in their relationship.
Mr Bush gave his strong backing to EU and NATO enlargement and told Russia that it had nothing to fear from either development. "Russia is not the enemy of the US. The Cold War is over," he said.
Mr Bush sidestepped a question about whether he saw the EU and the US as equals in the search for peace in the Middle East but said it was important that they spoke with one voice.
"What we must do as friends and allies is say only one thing and work toward only one goal, and that is to stop the cycle of violence. There should be no misunderstanding: political dialogue isn't going to happen until the violence stops," he said.
The leaders agreed to overhaul the mechanism of transatlantic dialogue and to focus on a number of strategic themes over the next few years. During the coming 12 months, they will seek to agree common positions on preventing conflicts, fighting terrorism and promoting nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Other priorities include world trade, fighting crime and protecting the environment.
Both sides agreed to contribute to a global fund to stop the spread of HIV and to work with pharmaceutical companies to make life-saving, anti-retroviral drugs available to people in poor countries.