German chancellor Angela Merkel says she will use her country’s presidency of the EU, which came into force on January 1, to promote closer trade ties with the U.S.

For starters, Merkel is advocating improved regulatory coordination in concrete areas such as patents and financial markets. “It causes unnecessary friction for patent rules in the U.S. to be structured differently from those in the EU,” she said.

She added that closer ties between the EU and U.S. are critical in the face of growing competition from Asia and Latin America, though she remarked that “this partnership is not directed against anyone.”

Meanwhile, EU trade chief Peter Mandelson is hoping to save the Doha Round of trade talks in the coming months. “We have now entered a narrow window of opportunity lasting until Easter during which success for the world trade talks is possible,” he said in early January. “We now have the added momentum of political leadership from the highest level. Europe and the U.S. have a shared responsibility to make this happen.”