China may take the place of the US in an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement following the US withdrawal from TPP, says special trade envoy and Waipukurau farmer Mike Petersen.
"I get a sense there is enough momentum and interest to keep a large part of the TPP agreement intact and to see if we can build on that with another forum or partner, which may be China and it may also be Korea, " he said.
Speaking from Germany, the former chairman of Beef + Lamb said US president-elect Donald Trump's promise to withdraw the US from the trade deal in January was disappointing "but this doesn't necessarily mean the end of TPP".
"Just because the US has withdrawn doesn't mean we will stop. TPP is a series of bilateral agreements between each of the 12 members. Because the US pulls out it means our bilateral agreement with the US will lapse, but it doesn't mean that the others need to."
He said the 12 TPP nations agreed it would only advance if nations representing 85 per cent of combined GDP ratified the deal.