The Trudeau government wants to form what it calls a ``coalition of the willing'' to forge trade links in Asia after U-S President Donald Trump's decision to kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Trump followed through on his promise to pull the US out of the 12-country Pacific Rim pact, effectively sinking it.
The sweeping trade deal in goods would have accounted for 40% of the global economy and included several Asian and Western Hemisphere countries, Canada among them.
But now it's back to the drawing board because the TPP can only be ratified if six countries, totalling 85 per cent of the deal's combined GDP, approve the deal.