Brussels, 05/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Washington on Thursday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her host, US President George W. Bush, tackled, in addition to international issues, the question of economic cooperation between the Union and the United States. The president of the European Council was in the American capital to act as ambassador for the EU27 and to promote support for a new transatlantic partnership, a theme she says will be a priority of her EU presidency. The day before, when interviewed by The Financial Times, Ms Merkel had confirmed her wish to consolidate the transatlantic partnership through greater regulatory harmonisation in order to reduce the differences that hamper Euro-American economic relations (albeit stronger than ever since 2000), in particular with regard to the regulatory mechanisms of financial markets, technical standards in the motor industry, protection of intellectual property rights and merger regulations. “We also talked about this project of a future common market, about joint efforts to make our two economies that, after all, rest on the same values, ever more efficient”, explained the German chancellor during a joint press conference with her host after their meeting. The US president did not, however, comment on this subject to the press, which shows Washington's cautious attitude in response to the enthusiasm demonstrated by Ms Merkel, who had received “encouraging signs” from the US Secretary for the Treasury, Hank Paulson, during the latter's visit to Berlin last December. According to The Financial Times on Friday, several factors can explain American caution. Firstly, the removal of regulatory barriers can be complex, often requiring agreement between the 50 US states and 27 European Member States. Then, there is growing opposition to free trade in the United States and, finally, according to a source close to the US president, Bush would like to hear from Ms Merkel and Mr Barroso to try to establish whether all EU members share their enthusiasm for the initiative. A more ambitious European initiative petered out in 1998, partly because of French resistance to liberalising its farm sector - an issue that continues to cloud transatlantic trade relations and the Doha world trade round. This is why the German chancellor refuses to set a timetable at this stage, although an official of her Christian-Democrat Party, Matthias Wissmann, Chair of the European Union Committee at the Bundestag, had taken a stance in favour of a single market and integration of European and American financial markets by 2015. Anglea Merkel and George Bush nonetheless decided on Thursday to promote “close contacts” and to set up a working group that will explore ways to implement a new transatlantic partnership and prepare for the EU/US Summit scheduled during the German term of EU presidency, at a date as yet unspecified. This project “is an uphill battle”, the chancellor admitted to the press, before going on to conclude: “What we're dealing with here is, for example, patent laws, international financial markets, protection of intellectual property rights, and so on”. (eh)