An historic 12-nation trade deal could still be salvaged without the US, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo believes.
With the stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership through an executive order just three days after his predecessor Barack Obama left the White House.
"There's quite a lot of countries that have an interest in looking to see if we could make a TPP 12 minus one work," Mr Ciobo told ABC radio on Tuesday.
The minister conceded the original deal can't go forward unless the US changes its mind.
But he has already had discussions with Canada, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia about working towards an alternative.
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"It's a moving space, but it's an important space, one that we must continue to pursue to give Aussie exporters the best chance to get preferential, global access for Australian exports," he said.
Mr Ciobo had meetings with counterparts during the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.
"This is very much a live option and we're pursuing it and it will be the focus of conversations for some time to come," he said.
The Australian government would keep alive the option of ratifying the TPP even without the US.
"We're not going to be like Bill Shorten and the Labor Party and walk away from this deal because it requires now a little bit of elbow grease," Mr Ciobo said.
Opposition trade spokesman Jason Clare said Malcolm Turnbull's credibility was in little better shape than the "dead" TPP, with the prime minister declaring the deal was pivotal to his economic plan.
"It's over. Donald Trump has killed the TPP," Mr Clare said in a statement.
"It's time for Malcolm Turnbull to wake up and move on, and develop a real economic plan for Australia."
The prime minister discussed the trade deal with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Monday night.
Mr Turnbull noted Japan's ratification of the TPP - the only country so far to do so - and underlined his desire to consider options to progress the agreement, his office said.
Both leaders agreed the deal was in the interests of both the Australian and Japanese people.
