BRITAIN

The Guardian, London, March 6: The White House appears to be ready to impose punitive tariffs on U.S. steel imports -- ostensibly to prevent dumping of cheap metal in American markets -- but on closer inspection to provide a way of bailing out an inefficient U.S. industry beset by old technology and even older employment practices. This has bruised Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been America's best friend in troubled times, but who is also Europe's most eloquent exponent of free trade, free markets and economic reform.
Such disregard for the rest of the world is a leitmotiv of the Bush administration. The Republican White House and its legislative foot soldiers are skeptical of multilateralism -- seeing it as a threat to U.S. freedom and a precursor to global government.
Aid targets: It scorns global limits on greenhouse gases and refuses to sign up to international aid targets. The Bush agenda, beholden to corporate lobby groups and favoring isolationism, serves to undermine Mr. Blair, who has invested so much in promoting globalization. The prime minister should firmly back a European response to American economic aggression. Speaking the truth may be difficult, but that is what friends are for.
JAPAN
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, March 5: The Swiss government has made membership in the United Nations conditional upon being able to maintain its neutralist diplomatic policy. That conclusion has already been accepted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But there remains the problem of how to find a balance between U.N. collective security arrangements and the Swiss policy of permanent neutrality. Some Swiss are concerned about the danger their country could become embroiled in armed conflict, and the danger cannot be denied, since Switzerland must accept whatever coercive measures the U.N. Security Council decides upon.
Areas that remain permanently neutral are precious resources. We hope the Swiss government will maintain a policy in regard to the United Nations that does not compromise its own neutrality. And the international community will have to honor that policy.
Vatican: With the participation of Switzerland in the United Nations, the only nation not represented in the world body is the Vatican in Rome. That could be a reflection of the way the world is now. Although people may be nostalgic for a nation with a unique foreign policy, the universality of the United Nations is a welcome development.
GERMANY
Suddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, March 5: The U.S. adventure in Gardez may be good for something: that the diplomacy faction in Washington regains stature and that the idea of nation-building loses its ugly undertone. After all, there is still a good chance in Afghanistan of bringing the job to a sensible conclusion. Thirdly, an opportunity could lie in the Afghan escalation. As cynical as it sounds:
Terminator team: With every victim, support in the United States for the unlimited anti-terror war will shrink. Maybe the Terminator team in Washington will realize then that it's not enough to pass judgment on the removal of despots and regimes without giving thought to what happens the day after.