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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Going to Europe

Aired July 18, 2001 - 07:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush leaves just a little over an hour from now for Europe and a meeting of the world's industrial power.

CNN's John King is already in London, though.

That is where the president's plane is going to land -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Colleen, the first stop is here in London. Mr. Bush will have lunch with the Queen. More important to the U.S. administration, though, are consultations with the British prime minister, Tony Blair, Mr. Blair among the more friendly European leaders as Mr. Bush takes this trip, trying once again to sell very controversial U.S. views on global warming and on missile defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Security is a major concern for the White House as the president makes his second trip to Europe in little more than a month. While Mr. Bush meets with the G8 leaders in Genoa, as many as 100,000 demonstrators are expected in the streets.

Organizers are taking unprecedented measures to counter the latest salvo by an anti-globalization movement that first took to the streets at the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle.

Tapes of last month's showdowns at the European Union meetings in Sweden were reviewed as part of the Secret Service training for this trip.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sharing of information amongst law enforcement is unprecedented. You don't have a choice. You have to share this information because there are those groups out there that will work against you if you don't.

KING: The president is stopping in London first, to see the British prime minister, Tony Blair. After the general summit, he goes to Rome to visit Pope John Paul II and Italian leaders. Mr. Bush finishes up with a visit to U.S. peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.

In Genoa, Mr. Bush will again face highly skeptical questions from U.S. allies and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Missile defense is one source of friction. The U.S. testing program will push against the limits of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty within months.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What we're saying to the Russians is let's move beyond that treaty. We have some time now with the Russians, over the next period of time here, to try and come to a new strategic framework.

KING: Global warming is another sticking point. European leaders already upset at Mr. Bush for opposing the Kyoto Treaty on global climate change are worried now that Japan's new prime minister might also be backing away from mandatory cuts in so-called greenhouse gas emissions.

JIM STEINBERG, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Prime Minister Koizumi is going to be under tremendous pressure from his European allies and friends to say, No, I'm going to stick with that Kyoto Treaty, I'm going to go forward with it, not withstanding the U.S. objections.

KING: The official G8 agenda places an emphasis on easing the debt of developing nations, new international efforts to fight AIDS and poverty, and launching another round of global trade talks.

The trip comes at the six-month mark of the Bush presidency. And so the president is facing increased pressure to be more specific about how fast he plans to move ahead with deploying a missile defense and how long it will take the administration to make specific proposals about steps to combat global warming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And Mr. Bush was quite defiant as he prepared to leave the United States, saying he would answer those questions, but he was not prepared to change the administration's view, either on global warming or on missile defense. Mr. Bush is also defiant, expecting tens of thousands of protesters in Genoa. Mr. Bush says those demonstrators have it wrong. He says free trade is the best way to quickly combat global poverty -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's John King, in London, thanks very much.

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