New York: The revelation that Donald Trump berated Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of one of America's closest allies, during a recent official phone call has been met with shock, disbelief and some embarrassed humour in the United States, fuelling concerns about the US President badly damaging important international relationships.

The Washington Post scoop revealing the tense conversation broke late in the day in the US and went on to dominate late night news television shows and social media, with many expressing disbelief that, of all the countries the US could have offended in the first weeks of a new administration, it would be America's genial allies across the Pacific.

"Dear Australia: The majority of Americans who don't support Trump want to say we are sorry. We will make it up to you in four years or less," Ted Lieu, a Democratic congressman from California who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter after the story broke.

"I made a Top 100 Possible Trump Administration Foreign Crises list & I gotta admit 'Rupturing US-Australia Relations' was NOT on there," senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also wrote.