US cannot run the world alone, Sarkozy tells Washington

Sarkozy is due to meet Obama in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Afterwards, Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni will attend a dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama in their private White House apartment.

Addressing students at Columbia University on Monday, the French leader urged the United States to join Europe in "inventing the rules for the economy of tomorrow".

"There is no single country in the 21st century that can run the world alone," he insisted.

Tuesday's talks with Obama will focus on ways to define "a new international monetary order", Sarkozy said, adding that "the dollar is not the only currency in the world".

The meeting is also expected to focus on contentious foreign policy issues such as the war in Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear drive.

Obama will renew a US request to Sarkozy to send more French military and police trainers to Afghanistan and discuss his new push for nuclear disarmament ahead of a Washington summit next month.

Another thorny subject on the agenda is a huge US military contract to supply 179 tanker planes. France has accused the US of protectionism by seeking to favour Boeing over Europe's Airbus.

Sarkozy has generally worked hard to rebuild ties with Washington, but some of his comments on Monday night recalled France's traditional scepticism for its larger and younger ally.

Congratulating the US on its new health care bill, Sarkozy said: "Welcome to the club of countries that does not dump its sick people."

"But if you want me to be sincere, seen from Europe, when we see the US debate on health care reform, we find it hard to believe."

France, he noted, had "resolved" the health care problem half a century ago.