•WASHINGTON • United States Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to secure the party's presidential nomination, the Associated Press reported yesterday, citing its own delegate count.

A small number of unbound delegates said they would support Mr Trump at the party's July convention, AP reported, pushing the billionaire businessman over the 1,237-delegate threshold he needed to avoid a contested convention ahead of the Nov 8 election.

The billionaire real estate magnate had become the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this month.

But securing the necessary delegates effectively ends Mr Trump's primary campaign, in which he outlasted 16 other Republicans seeking the nomination. Republicans are expected to finalise their pick when delegates vote at the July convention in Cleveland.

Mr Trump will face either former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , who are vying for the Democratic nomination.

Mr Trump has turned American politics on its head, calling for building a wall on the southern US border, deporting millions of undocumented immigrants and banning Muslims from entering the United States.

REUTERS