An ambitious Asia-Pacific trade pact linking the United States, Australia and 10 countries lies in tatters after US President-elect Donald Trump says he'll dump the deal on his first day in office.
Trump's statement on Tuesday appeared to open the way for China to assume the United States' leadership mantle on trade and diplomacy in Asia.
The Republican termed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a potential disaster for our country".
China, Japan and South Korea are already in the initial stages of discussing a trilateral trade deal, and Beijing has been pushing its own limited Asian regional trade pact that excludes Washington for the past five years.
Japan and Australia, Washington's closest allies in Asia, pledged after Trump's announcement to push ahead without the United States, although removing the largest market for goods and services would shrink it dramatically.
Trump has pledged to redraw trade deals to win back American jobs, and has threatened Mexico and China with punitive tariffs in a move that some economists have warned could spark a trade war that threatens to roll back decades of liberalization.
Ending the TPP was a key election pledge of Trump's and was also the policy of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The deal died in Congress after Trump's election victory.
The Trans Pacific Partnership, a signature diplomatic initiative of Democratic President Barack Obama, was intended to lower tariff barriers in countries that accounted for 40 per cent of the world economy, as well as providing a bulwark against China.
China has pushed its own Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which notably excludes the United States.
It is a more traditional trade agreement, involving cutting tariffs rather than opening up economies and setting labour and environmental standards as TPP would.
The RCEP was a focus of attention at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru over the weekend.
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