28/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Concerned at the transatlantic dispute over Iraq, Eurocommerce is calling on the EU and the US to avert new transatlantic trade tensions (disputes have been multiplying in recent years). Eurocommerce notes: "Disagreements on single political issues like the current crisis in the Middle East should not affect economic cooperation between both trading partners." "Any new bilateral conflict would reduce the prospects of a successful outcome of the ongoing WTO Round, the Doha Development Agenda". The European trade association hoped existing disputes would be amicably settled, stressing that a constructive climate was needed and rules, like the WTO rules, had to be respected. It added that one cannot keep on acting in defiance of legal measures without this having a negative impact on common interests and developing countries, which benefit the most from multilateralism. Eurocommerce asserts that the problem of respecting international law is worse now than two or three years ago.