US VP Pence seeks to allay European fears
US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday sought to reassure nervous Europeans of Donald Trump's strong commitment to transatlantic ties as he met EU chiefs amid anti-Trump protests.
Capping a European trip aimed at allaying EU fears the new US president might abandon them, Pence said Washington's support remained "steadfast and enduring".
"Today it is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union," Pence said after talks with EU president Donald Tusk in Brussels.
Pence pledged the United States would keep working with Europe to boost the world's two biggest economies, fight terrorism and defend eastern EU states against Russian encroachment.
Trump's criticism of Nato as "obsolete", his praise for Britain's decision to leave the EU and prediction that others would follow, plus his apparent tilt to Russian President Vladimir Putin have all unnerved US allies.
Tusk, a former Polish premier, said that Europeans "truly needed" the meeting with Pence and that the 28-nation bloc counted on "wholehearted and unequivocal" US support.
"Too much has happened over the past month in your country and in the EU ... for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be," Tusk said.
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