U.S.-European relations, already on a downward slide since the mid-1990s, have deteriorated further since President Bush took office in January. Bush's reluctance to support the Kyoto treaty to curb global warming and his plans to deploy a missile defense system in defiance of a 1970s-era arms-control treaty are the two main friction points. But American positions on many other issues, including the role of NATO peacekeeping initiatives, Europe's evolving trade policies and the U.S. death penalty, also are straining bilateral relations. European critics charge that the United States is misusing its post-Cold War status as the world's sole superpower to impose its will, ignoring the interests of its closest allies.

Mary H. Cooper specializes in environmental, energy and defense issues. Before joining CQ Researcher as a staff writer in 1983, she was a reporter and Washington correspondent for the Rome daily newspaper l'Unita. She is the author of The Business of Drugs (CQ Press, 1990). She also is a contract translator-interpreter for the U.S. State Department. Cooper graduated from Hollins College in English.