British prime minister Mr Tony Blair has urged politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to stop trying to divide America and Europe.
US President Mr Bush starts a six-day trip to Germany, Russia, France and Italy in Berlin tomorrow, where thousands of are expected to demonstrate against a possible US attack on Iraq, as well his policies on trade, the environment and the Middle East.
As Mr Bush's staunchest European ally, Mr Blair tried to pacify antagonists in both camps, who risk damaging already-frosty EU-US relations over steel tariffs and Washington's "war on terror".
"There will always be people on both sides of the Atlantic who want to pull Europe and America apart. There are some in America who simply dismiss Europe as not serious and some in Europe whose voices border on being anti-American," Blair told the Timesnewspaper.
"My sense of things is that despite the difficulties, the sensible majority understand that what we have in common is far more than what divides us," he said.
An increasingly bitter war of words has broken out between Washington and European capitals following Mr Bush's State of the Union address, in which he labelled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an "axis of evil".
EU external affairs commissioner Mr Chris Patten warned Washington against going into "unilateralist overdrive" in its response to the September 11th attacks.