Obama to focus on euro woes at G20 summit

President: Barack Obama, drained by a long showdown with domestic foes and the sluggish US recovery, heads to Europe on Wednesday to urge leaders to stay steadfast amid their own economic woes.


At the G20 summit beginning in the swish surroundings of Cannes, southern France on Thursday, Obama will test whether his own diminished political heft at home will weaken his economic leverage abroad as he girds for reelection.


Obama has pressed behind the scenes for a strong European response to a regional debt crisis which threatens to spiral into global financial contagion, and despite some market doubts, welcomed an EU debt accord last week.


Lael Brainard, Treasury Department undersecretary for International Affairs, said Obama still believed Europe had the capacity and resources to overcome its economic woes.The idea of a tax on bond and stocks transactions is also opposed by Britain, which hosts Europe’s largest financial hub in London.


Washington is also treading carefully over the idea of a possible large-scale Chinese investment into the revamped euro bailout, amid frequent commentary that the United States is losing power to the rising Asian giant.


Obama is expected to again press China at the summit of developed and developing nations to allow Beijing’s currency, the yuan, to rise to a value which Washington believes will not artificially penalize US products.


Obama will also hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Friday with Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner as both sides seek to move on from a rocky period in relations.