TOYAKO, Japan — President Bush encountered resistance on some items on his agenda as he and other world leaders sought to strike a balance between framing a deal on global warming while coping with inflation and slumping economic growth.
Building a consensus was not proving easy for him as the Group of Eight economic powers planned to turn its attention today to global warming, soaring food and fuel costs and world conflicts.
Beyond the climate-change standoff, Bush’s proposal to base a missile defense system in Eastern Europe was rebuffed on Monday by Russia’s new president, Dimitry Medvedev. And Bush failed to achieve a consensus among African leaders on sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe to protest his widely condemned re-election last month after his opposition-party rival dropped out, fearful for his life.
“You know I care deeply about the people of Zimbabwe,” Bush told reporters after a Monday meeting with African leaders. “I’m extremely disappointed in the elections, which I labeled a sham election.”
Separately, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mugabe’s election was not legitimate. “As for us in Germany, we do not rule out further sanctions,” she said, adding that many other G-8 nations feel the same way.
“There were differences. Not all leaders are there yet in terms of sanctions,” said a White House national security aide.
The big issue on today’s agenda was climate change; it was certain to be a major topic when Bush meets one-on-one with Merkel, one of the G-8’s strongest advocates for tough reductions in emissions that contribute to global warming.
She succeeded in winning his backing last year to a statement pledging that the group would seriously consider a goal of halving greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 while failing to persuade him to commit to more specific targets.
Adding to Bush’s isolation on the issue, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said G-8 nations must reach agreement among themselves and avoid taking the approach that “I will do nothing unless you do it first,” which he called a “vicious circle.”
G-8 nations consist of the U.S., Japan, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada.
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