Donald Trump had three incredibly awkward alpha moments in one day

Third time wasn't the charm for Donald Trump as he found himself at the centre of a trio of awkward – and downright bizarre – moments during Thursday's (25 May) visit to Brussels.

The US President was in Belgium's capital meeting world leaders for the 2017 Nato summit.

Trump was first seen sharing an extraordinarily aggressive handshake with newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron during their first face-to-face meeting, before then being spotted shoving the Prime Minister of Montenegro out the way during a photo call.

But it was a third incident when Trump was walking side-by-side with other world leaders that perhaps summed up how the leader of the free world was being viewed by fellow presidents and prime ministers.

TV footage showed Macron walk towards the group for a traditional meet-and-greet, appearing to head directly for Trump for one of his legendary handshakes.

But Macron instead made a beeline for German Chancellor Angela Merkel – prompting the billionaire property mogul to hold out his hands in apparent surprise.

France's leader continued to ignore a waiting Trump by choosing to next greet Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. As the US President stared at Macron, the French leader turned away for a third time to shake hands with yet another dignitary.

In what looked like a calculated snub, Macron took his time to finally face the US President before being pulled into Trump's trademark aggressive handshake.

World leaders, including Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were seen laughing during the awkward gathering.

Before speaking at the Nato headquarters in Brussels, the US President was also filmed shoving past another fellow leader to be at the front of the pack.

In scenes that could have come straight out of a school classroom, Trump can be seen slapping his hand on the arm of Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković before shoving him out of the way.

The PM seems startled at first to see the president barging his way to the front of the group, which included the likes of Merkel, Macron and Theresa May. Marković had been mid-conversation with the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė at the time.

Earlier that day, yet more odd behaviour was caught by TV cameras during Trump's first face-to-face meeting with Macron.

The two world leaders got seemingly stuck in a handshake – possibly the most awkward in history – for almost 10 seconds when they met ahead of the Nato summit.

Trump is famous for his drawn-out handshakes, accompanied with an intense alpha-male grimace.

His French counterpart rose to the challenge, meeting the property mogul's eye and shooting back a scowl of his own.

The handshake has immediately drawn an abundance of comment and analysis.

"They shook hands furiously – with Trump trying to pull his hand away and Macron holding onto it. Trump's knuckles turned whiter. It was 'Screw You' in handshake form," according to one BBC journalist.

Trump later gave a speech at in front of the other leaders, criticising those who didn't pay their way when it came to Nato contributions.