"America has everything to gain from having a strong Europe as a partner", according to the US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleezza Rice.
She told the Institut des Études des Sciences Politiques in Paris this week that the US and the European Union "have an historic opportunity to shape a global balance of power that favours freedom - and that will therefore deepen and extend the peace". She used the word "power" broadly, "because even more important than military and indeed economic power is the power of ideas, the power of compassion and the power of hope".
The tone and content of this message from the new Bush administration to European leaders is strikingly different from those we became used to over the last four years. On the Kyoto Protocol, the International Criminal Court, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the place of force, law and religion in international affairs there has been a deepening rift in values and interests between transatlantic allies. To this list may be added current disagreements over how to respond to Iran's nuclear programme, the falling dollar and China's request for an end to the EU's military embargo against it.
Alongside that, there is a profound falling out between US and European public opinion. The latest opinion poll shows 65 per cent of French voters and 57 per cent of German ones think it undesirable that there should be a strong US role in world affairs.
Ms Rice is setting the scene and the agenda for President Bush's visit to Europe later this month. Her proposals for a renewed partnership, common basic values and mutual interests in spreading freedom around the world presumably herald themes he will set out in greater detail. There is clearly a realisation in Washington that such objectives cannot be achieved by US power alone - and certainly not only by military means. Soft multilateral power is also required to achieve them in tandem with allies.
The transatlantic divergence of values and interests has gone too far to be repaired by rhetorical means alone, without being matched by a real change in behaviour. The French foreign minister, Mr Michel Barnier, went out of his way with President Chirac to welcome Ms Rice's new message and pledged to pursue a new relationship. But he made the important point that alliance is not the same thing as allegiance.
A new relationship will have to be built on a more equal basis, respecting differences of interest and capable of withstanding robust debate and raucous disagreement, as on Iraq, Iran, the dollar and China.
It is much too early to say with any certainty that this can be achieved. But there is certainly a willingness in Europe to explore how transatlantic relations can be repaired by joint action and realistic dialogue. A more mature relationship along these lines is well worth the effort required.