WASHINGTON (AP) – Unable to agree on major issues like global trade and climate change, the leaders of the United States and the European Union look to highlight smaller signs of improving ties when they meet this week at the White House.

Expectations are modest for the annual US-European Union summit set for Monday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will get President Bush’s support for a proposal to boost trans-Atlantic commerce by eliminating some bureaucratic hurdles. They also will sign an agreement to open up trans-Atlantic air routes.

“People have been searching hard for issues that don’t involve Iraq or the war on terror,” said Julianne Smith, director of the European program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

U.S. relations with the European Union have shown signs of improvement after years of disputes over the Iraq war and the U.S. treatment of terror suspects. U.S. and EU diplomats have been working together on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Relations were boosted when Merkel assumed the EU’s rotating presidency in January. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to leave office, she is considered Bush’s best friend among European leaders, and the White House has welcomed her entreaties to repair European ties.

Merkel has specifically sought out a project that would engage the two sides as a priority for her presidency of the 27-nation bloc. Her proposal to harmonize European and U.S. regulations, such as those governing automobile safety standards or business takeovers, is designed to increase trade and lower costs. Trade between the European Union and the United States already accounts for about 40 percent of all global trade.

“With the necessary political commitment and follow-up on all sides, the new framework will deliver lower costs for businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic,” Barroso said in a statement Friday.

Merkel’s proposal comes at a time that the EU and the U.S. have been unable to resolve differences and revive the Doha Round of multinational free trade talks.

Both sides believe Merkel’s trans-Atlantic proposal is achievable because it avoids many of the sticking points, such as disputes over agricultural subsidies, that have held up Doha. Officials plan to announce an agreement Monday to establish a body to oversee the negotiations.

Merkel has also offered some support for Bush in a dispute with Russia over U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. German officials have expressed satisfaction with U.S. diplomatic efforts to soothe Russian concerns, although Moscow remains strongly opposed to the plan.

Russia is involved in at least two other high-priority issues that the EU and U.S. will discuss Monday. Officials say they will discuss a United Nations plan that would lead to the independence of Kosovo from Serbia over Belgrade’s objections. The U.S. and Europe back the plan, but Russia has threatened to veto it in the Security Council.

The summit also is expected to touch on energy security, with both sides worried about Russia’s leverage over parts of Europe because of its dominance of the natural gas market.

European officials have sought to tie the issue of energy security to conservation and efforts to reduce emissions and fight global warming.

The message has not been received well at the White House, where officials bristle at European pressure for participation in international efforts to cap carbon emissions. Although European officials say they will continue pressing the matter, Merkel signaled this week that she would put off talks on the subject until she hosts the June meeting of the G-8 group of the world’s leading industrialized nations.

The White House has tried to minimize differences on climate change. “Actually there’s a lot more agreement than so much being at odds,” said Rod Hunter, the National Security Council’s director for trade, energy and the environment, at a news conference Thursday.

Asked whether the two sides would announce a climate change agreement, Hunter said flatly, “No.”

The two sides are unlikely, as once hoped, to announce a deal to allow all EU nationals to travel to the United States without visas or an agreement regulating the transfer of air passenger data from trans-Atlantic flights to the United States.

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On the Net:

European Commission site on summit: http://tinyurl.com/2uykk3

AP-ES-04-28-07 1151EDT