US President Barack Obama's administration has suspended its efforts to win congressional approval for his Asian free-trade deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, saying that its fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers.

Administration officials also said Obama would try to explain the situation to leaders of the 11 other countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact this week when he attends a regional summit in Peru.

Obama's cabinet secretaries and the US Trade Representative's office had been lobbying lawmakers for months to pass the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in the post-election, lame-duck session of Congress. However, Trump's stunning election victory that sends him to the White House in January and retains Republican majorities in Congress has stymied those plans.