Trump will not be US president: Obama

President Barack Obama said, republican Donald Trump will not be president because it`s a "serious job".

"I continue to believe that Trump will not be president. And the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people," said Obama.

Trump, a billionaire businessman, is the frontrunner in the race to be his party`s choice for the White House.

He has won one state primary already, and leads the polls in South Carolina, where Republicans vote on Saturday.

Speaking at the Asean economic summit in California, the president was asked by a reporter about Trump.

The electorate will not pick him, said Obama, because "they recognise that being president is a serious job".

"It`s not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it`s not promotion, it`s not marketing, it`s hard. It`s not a matter of pandering and doing whatever will get you in the news on a given day."

Trump responded by saying it was a compliment to be criticised by a president who had done so much damage to the country.

The New York hotel developer`s antipathy to Obama goes back a number of years - he used to demand that the president produce proof that he was born in the US.

And his election campaign has continuously made headlines, for controversial remarks and policies.

Trump said he would deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, build a wall on the southern border paid for by Mexico and that Muslims should be stopped from entering the US.