Report: Trump announces French, German, and Italian talks through his 'presidential' use of social media

US president Donald Trump plans to speak with German, French, and Italian officials ahead of a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies this week that could expose his sharp differences with world powers on trade and other issues.

Mr Trump, who announced the talks on Twitter, is preparing for the two-day G20 summit that starts in Hamburg on Friday, just over a month after a G7 summit in Sicily showed deep divisions betweenhim and other Western leaders on climate change, trade, and migration.

A fractious first Nato summit with Mr Trump also left European allies wondering where the military alliance goes next.