US author Michael Wolff's​ explosive new book Fire and Fury about the Trump White House will further unnerve America's foes and friends alike, and is particularly alarming in the light of the US President's apparent preparedness to go to war with North Korea, according to Kim Beazley.

Mr Beazley, a former Australian ambassador to Washington, told Fairfax that the Wolff book is "internationally very damaging for the US; there is a lot of scepticism about Trump anyway, but … there is a sense that he has basically taken leave of his senses and is fundamentally out of control".

At a time when the US is running a "hard line" with South Korea and China on trade, risking a trade war, the book would "add to an impression around Trump of indiscipline, madness and miscalculation".

Mr Beazley added that the US leader seemed to have become convinced that the only way to disarm North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was to "hit hard" but that Mr Trump has "no real understanding of what he is handling; and the book points out his deep ignorance and determination to [stay that way]".