Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, if elected, would shelve US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of his advisers said.

"The TPP will no longer exist in the world of Trump," Peter Navarro, an adviser and economist, told the Chinese website of BBC in Cleveland, Ohio, where the Republican National Convention was held this week. The story was published after the party's convention concluded on Thursday.

The TPP, seen by many as a tool for containing China, is a pact among a dozen Pacific Rim nations that aims to boost the countries' economic ties. It currently awaits ratification.