Without America, many will see the attempt to curb global warming as fatally flawed

In the event, the US President is probably breathing a small sigh of relief - it could have been worse.

The EU's top representatives have expressed resignation rather than anger.

They barely raised an eyebrow when Mr Bush used the fig leaf of continued dialogue and further research to cover his unilateral withdrawal from a treaty that took a decade to negotiate.

Beyond today's public courtesies and mutual expressions of commitment to an ever-closer EU-US relationship, though, Kyoto threatens to become a lasting irritant in transatlantic relations.

European governments say they will ratify the treaty anyway.

But without America, the world's biggest polluter, many will see the attempt to curb global warming as fatally flawed, and that is likely to fuel new European suspicions that the Bush administration's muscular definition of its own interests does not coincide with Europe's.

If George Bush came to Gothenburg to win hearts and minds, the day's events, for all the veneer of friendship, will have done him little good.