France has an often prickly relationship with the United States over national and foreign policy. Besides voicing concern about the missile shield, France has criticized U.S. policy on Iraq. Jospin criticized Bush's decision last week to pull out of the Kyoto agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Bush said that the treaty's mandatory cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and the timetable for the reductions could hamper the U.S. economy. The Kyoto protocol, which must be ratified by 55 countries to come into effect, calls for countries to cut heat-trapping emissions by an average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Many scientists believe such emissions are causing the Earth to warm significantly.