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“We intend to talk to the United States through various occasions, tenaciously, and with patience, about the value of the strategic and economic value of TPP agreement,” he said. “What we hope is countries other than United States will also pursue the ratification of the TPP so that other countries also will give a strong message to the United States.”

The Trudeau government never declared a final position on whether or not it would ratify the deal.

However, Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne, said Monday the TPP “cannot enter into force without the United States.”

Because most of the TPP was negotiated around specific U.S. asks, TPP countries would likely want to change many of the deal’s parameters if they decided to go ahead without America.

Meanwhile, Schwanen said there is “no way” the U.S. would re-sign the existing document — calling into question whether ratification would just be a waste of time.

Even in the unlikely case of a Trump-led renegotiation of the TPP, NAFTA talks would need to conclude first, Schwanen said, since changes to the North American agreement would automatically impact measures taken under the TPP.

And if a TPP renegotiation does eventually happen, Trump “will want to put his stamp on it, and it won’t be pretty for the other partners.”

Schwanen suggested in the meantime, multilateral fora such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation could work on easing trade between North America and Asia. But Canada should also ramp up bilateral talks with Japan and China, he said, to expand market access but also to hedge against American actions.

“What I’m not keen on is a hub-and-spoke system where the U.S. has deals with everybody, and those deals make U.S. producers more competitive in those markets at the expense of Canadian producers,” Schwanen said.

Canada and China agreed to start exploratory trade talks in the fall. Neither Lawrence nor Monji would confirm whether Canada-Japan talks are back on the table yet. Seven rounds of negotiations between the two countries had transpired between 2012 and 2014.

Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles