Washington - The United States will push for aggressive action to halt the global economic slide at an international financial summit next month, President Barack Obama said Wednesday, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the global economy and again warning against protectionist moves.

Ahead of April's Group of 20 (G20) gathering of the world's leading economies, Obama acknowledged that developing countries were being "hard hit" by the fallout from an economic crisis that largely began in the United States.

Obama cited the aggressive moves already taken by the United States - including an unprecedented 787-billion-dollar stimulus package - and suggested other countries must do more to halt the slide of their own economies.

"As aggressive as the actions we are taking have been so far, it's very important to make sure that other countries are moving in the same direction, because the global economy is all tied together," Obama said in a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Geithner and other G20 finance ministers will gather in London this weekend to prepare for the April 2 summit, which will mark Obama's first trip overseas since taking office in January.

Obama's comments came amid a growing rift with the European Union over how to deal with the economic crisis. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday rejected US pressure on EU governments to inject more funds into their economies.

EU leaders want the G20 summit to focus more on a broad overhaul of global financial regulations, which failed to avert the near- collapse of the US financial system in September that sparked the global crisis.

Obama also said he would use the London gathering to "make sure also that we are not falling into protectionist patterns" in reaction to the global recession.

A number of countries have increased trade barriers in efforts to protect domestic jobs and industries, and the World Bank last week said world trade this year will fall to its lowest level in 80 years. The United States has sought to block government funds from the stimulus package from going to foreign companies.

"The United States is part of an integrated global economy and so we have to think not only about what's going on here at home," Obama said. "We also have to be mindful about what's happening overseas."