DONALD Trump has snubbed Republican critic Mitt Romney in favour of ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson to be his Secretary of State.

NBC cited two sources close to Mr Trump’s transition team as saying that Tillerson will become the top diplomat for the US.

Mr Tillerson emerged on Friday as Trump’s leading candidate for US secretary of state and met with him Saturday morning, a transition official told Reuters.

The transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead in Mr Trump’s deliberations over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has met Mr Trump twice, including at a dinner in New York. As Exxon’s CEO, Mr Tillerson oversees operations in more than 50 countries, including Russia.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia’s largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.

Trump’s campaign was not immediately able to confirm the selection.