美国总统奥巴马前往伦敦，进行他就任总统以来对欧洲的首次访问，其间他将出席本星期举行的20国集团峰会，讨论如何应对全球经济局势。奥巴马星期二上午从华盛顿郊外一个空军基地启程，开始就任总统10个星期以来首次飞跃大西洋的外访。
奥巴马呼吁世界上20个主要的工业化和发展中的经济体在峰会上发出团结一致的强烈信息。但是，这位美国新总统目前在如何应对全球金融金融危机的问题上面临不断加大的分歧。
法国和其他一些欧洲国家要求实行更严格的金融管理，但美国和英国希望各国增加支出，以刺激经济复苏。法国总统萨科齐星期一表示，他不会接受一个只是制造“虚假成功”的峰会。
美国财政部长盖特纳说，美国、法国、德国和中国之间的分歧“非常小”。
U.S. President Barack Obama is on his way to London in his first European trip as president during which he will attend this week’s G-20 summit to address the global economic situation. Mr. Obama departed from an air force base outside Washington Tuesday morning, for his first trip across the Atlantic Ocean since becoming president 10 weeks ago.
Mr. Obama is calling for a strong message of unity at the meeting in London of the world’s 20 leading industrialized and developing economies. But the new U.S. president is being confronted with emerging differences about how to tackle the global financial crisis.
France, as well as some other European nations, are demanding much tougher financial regulation, while the U.S. and Britain want nations to boost spending to help spark an economic recovery. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday he will not accept a summit that produces nothing more than what he called “false success.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said (in an interview with the “Financial Times”) the gap between the U.S., France, Germany and China is “very small.”