Donald Trump has confirmed that he will endorse Mitt Romney's bid for the White House.

The billionaire businessman said he made the decision after getting to know Mr Romney by meeting with him several times in the past few months.

He also cited Mr Romney's performances in presidential debates and his tough stance on China as reasons for his support.

It was an apparent turnaround for Mr Trump, who has made negative comments about Mr Romney in the past, including dismissing him as a "small business guy". HoweverMr Trump said previous negative comments were a reflection of not knowing Mr Romney well enough.

He also said he would not run for president as an independent if Mr Romney becomes the Republican nominee.

Also on Thursday, Mr Romney said he misspoke when he stated he was not very concerned about poor people.

In an interview with Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston, Mr Romney said his comments were an accidental "misstatement" of a position that he had repeated throughout his presidential campaign.

The front-runner in the Republican nomination race had said in a CNN interview that he was "not very concerned about the very poor" because they have an "ample safety net".

Mr Romney has repeatedly said he is focused primarily on helping middle-class Americans hurt by the bad economy.

He said he gave "thousands of interviews" and on that occasion he simply got it wrong.