Bush calls for stronger U.S. dollar

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Tuesday said he was in favor of a stronger dollar, the Times of London reported.

"We want the dollar to strengthen," Bush said in an exclusive Times interview aboard Air Force One on his way to a United States-European Union summit in Slovenia.

Bush did not say the government had plans in the works to shore up the battered dollar against other currencies, but his remarks came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he "would never take intervention off the table."

Since 2002, the dollar has fallen more than 40 percent against the euro and 36 percent against the English pound sterling, the Times reported.

Following a report that the U.S. unemployment rate jumped 0.5 percent in April during a time of rising oil prices, Bush said the economy was going through a "tough" patch.

"We are a robust, flexible economy. No question we're having a tough time, as are other nations," he said.