Brussels, 06/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Several experts participating on 26 May at a hearing organised by the international trade committee at the European Parliament pointed out that relations between the EU and USA have never been as fruitful as over the last ten years. Joseph Quinlan a lecturer at John Hopkins University in Washington said that recent years had been politically tumultuous but of economic boom. He said that diplomatic relations between the EU and USA were at their lowest following the war in Iraq but trade had increased by 22% between 2003-04 and direct foreign investment by Europeans in the USA was higher than ever. Johan van Hecke MEP (ALDE) said that the trans-Atlantic market accounts for almost twelve million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. He added that this cooperation mainly involved multinationals but said that SMEs should not be left on the sidelines the Minister-Adviser from the US Mission to the EU, John Sammis shares this concern and pointed out that SMEs were the backbone of the US economy. Erika Mann MEP (German Social Democrat) called for grater cooperation in the burgeoning services market. The European Commission, which prepared its communication for the forthcoming EU/US Summit in June in Washington, is seeking to provide the trans-Atlantic partnership with a political profile that equals economic and trade relations, explained Mathew Baldwin, director of trans-Atlantic relations at DG Trade at the European Commission. Mr Sammis said that one of the stakes at play at the next summit would be to “strangle” outmoded caricatures about trade conflicts. He said that too often they appeared to celebrate their successes in private and their divergences in public. Onno Ruding, former Dutch minister of finance said that the two ides were certainly trade rivals but that they had a common interest to defend on the world trade scene, such as liberalisation of services in developing countries. While welcoming prospects for reinforced trade between the EU and USA, Reiner Hoffman, Deputy Secretary General a the European Confederation of Trade Unions (ETUC) was less emphatic. He said that the “social and environmental aspects of cooperation are too often overlooked”. He maintained that not enough progress had been made in trans-Atlantic social dialogue, despite the many shared values and a willingness by the European and American trade unions to work together on the basis of these themes. Hoffmann appealed for greater cooperation between the international institutions, including the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to better manage globalisation.