US Vice President Mike Pence briefs the media after meeting European Council President Donald Tusk (unseen) in Brussels, Belgium, February 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Europeans can still question how far Pence speaks for Trump but EU officials said the vice president had made a good impression and sought to smooth feathers ruffled by Trump's abrasive public style.

Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, referred in his comments to United States support, under then president Ronald Reagan, of the Polish people suffering under martial law imposed by the Communist government in 1981 and of the historic role of some US and European leaders.

Pence, who Tusk said had recalled a youthful visit to Cold War divided Berlin in the 1970s, said history showed that, when the United States and Europe were peaceful and prosperous, the whole world benefited and that the two should be united in combating Islamist militants and Russian efforts to redraw international borders by force.