WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush is likely to play down differences over trade and emphasize U.S. foreign aid next week at his first major-nation summit since the Sept. 11 attacks on America, as he seeks support for expanding his anti-terrorism campaign.
The president also is certain to be occupied explaining his evolving Middle East policy to anxious leaders -- whether or not he delivers a much anticipated speech laying out the policy before he attends the Group of Eight summit in Canada.
``I spend time making sure this coalition of freedom-loving countries is strong,'' Bush said in a speech on Wednesday that underscored his view of his international role.
``They're kind of looking at the United States, and if I blink, it's likely they'll go to sleep. So we've got to stay strong and determined to lead -- to lead the world to defend our freedoms, and I'll do just that,'' he said.
Bush is to meet the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Italy, and Russia in the Canadian Rockies resort of Kananaskis next Tuesday through Thursday.
This year's summit will feature a more informal atmosphere engineered by the Canadian hosts and the lack of a communique, which traditionally reflects painstaking deliberation. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien will issue a less formal summary.
Last year, amid violent protests against globalism in the streets of Genoa, Italy, at his first G8 summit, Bush faced criticisms as a unilateralist for quitting the Kyoto global warming treaty and planning a missile-defense system.
But this year, after launching a war on global terrorism triggered by the September attacks which killed about 3,000 people, Bush is showing an internationalist side -- and some G8 countries have expressed concern the United States would dominate the meeting to the exclusion of others.
White House officials say the anti-terrorism campaign and African development are at the top of the U.S. agenda for the G8 summit. Six African leaders are invited to the summit.
The president, in a speech at the West Point military academy on June 1, said the United States must act preemptively against threats of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction -- a strategy seen as setting the stage for military action to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
He is likely to face concerns from leaders, such as Chretien, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who are wary of attacks on Iraq.
``The West Point speech has deepened that anxiety,'' said Jim Steinberg, a former deputy U.S. national security adviser now head of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution.
``I think that there will be some background efforts to try and get the president ... to be reassuring,'' he said.
A U.S. official said Bush was unlikely to raise the pre-emptive strategy himself, and instead would focus on ``consensus-building'' for the overall U.S. effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
ADDRESSING FOREIGN AID CONCERNS
As he seeks support, Bush is addressing long-standing concerns by foreign leaders seeking more U.S. foreign aid.
``We have an abiding interest in preventing the emergence of failed states (which can) become petri dishes for terrorists,'' the official said.
Since Sept. 11 the Bush administration has ``come a long way'' toward recognizing connections between global poverty and security challenges, said Lael Brainard, a Brookings analyst and a G8 negotiator under former President Bill Clinton.
Furthermore, she said, the administration recognizes that having asked other countries to join its anti-terror coalition, their desire that the United States do more to fight global poverty is ``entirely legitimate.''
This week, Bush proposed a $500 million program to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, and a plan to double education aid to Africa to $200 million over five years.
Analysts and advocates said the money falls far short of what is needed, but nonetheless represents practical steps.
The White House on Thursday indicated Bush's Middle East policy speech, which is expected to call for a provisional Palestinian state with temporary borders, could be delayed until after the G8 summit.
That could hinder the president's efforts to generate momentum for the plan. But even if he does not give the speech before the summit, other leaders anxious for the United States to take a leading role in Middle East peacemaking will undoubtedly seek to learn the president's thinking.
Bush may be on the defensive over economic issues such as new U.S. farm subsidies that other countries say distort trade, and new steel import tariffs. Likewise, Washington may have complaints about Europe's moves to expand trade with Iran.
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