Canada is considering closing up to eight consulates and trade offices in the United States, public broadcaster CBC reported Thursday as the prime minister was on a trade mission to China.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation cited unnamed sources saying offices in Philadelphia, Anchorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix and San Diego could be shuttered by year end to save an estimated $30 million annually in rents and staff salaries.

The closures would be announced in the upcoming federal budget expected in March, the CBC said.

A spokesman for Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy responsible for consular services told AFP without confirming or denying the story: "No decision has been made at this time."

Canada currently has 21 consular and trade offices in the United States as as well as an embassy in Washington that employ more than 1,000 diplomats and local staff.

The closures would come as Ottawa shifts its focus away from its southern neighbor to woo Asia.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday during a four-day visit to China that diversifying his country's markets was a "key priority."

Canada -- heavily reliant on the United States to buy its exports -- is keen to sell more commodities to China after Washington last month rejected a proposed pipeline to carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to the US Gulf Coast.

The Keystone XL pipeline was viewed as crucial to Canada's economic prosperity, by opening up new avenues to sell products from its landlocked oil sands to the United States and abroad.