The European Union (EU) and the United States could take action against dell laptop battery,China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) this month over alleged export restrictions on around 20 industrial raw materials, said EU and industry sources.

The insiders said Brussels and Washington plan to formally request consultations with Beijing on the issue on June 22. If the talks fail, the next step would be calling for a WTO panel to hear the complaint.

The EU and the US say China is restricting exports of raw materials used in steel, semiconductors, aircraft and other products, despite Beijing’s pledge to eliminate taxes and charges on exports when it joined the WTO in 2001.

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Some of the materials expected to be covered by the case include yellow phosphorous, antimony, bauxite, coke, fluorspar, indium, magnesium carbonate, molybdenum, rare earths, silicon, talc, tin, tungsten and zinc.

The quantity of different raw materials “will be in the region of 20″, one source said.Latitude C640.

“China has been placing unfair export quotas and taxes on these raw materials which are distorting the global market and hindering European and US companies,” an EU source said.

The EU is China’s largest trading partner. Trade volume between them grew to $425.58 billion in 2008, an increase of 19.5 percent on the previous year.

Lamy said 80 percent of the global deal was done, but significant obstacles remained especially regarding tariffs and market access, with some countries wanting to protect vulnerable industries and others wanting new markets.

“We are not looking at the difficulties, we are looking at the possibilities, to do our best and take this process to its culmination,” Sharma told AFP after his meeting with Kirk on Monday.

“There are no obstacles which are insurmountable.”

The two met informally in a quiet villa on the edge of a vast luxury resort overlooking Bali’s coral-fringed beaches, away from the media glare and spotlight typically associated with WTO jamborees.

During his first trip to the WTO in May, Kirk spoke about the need to “consider changes to the process” of the negotiations. “Whatever vehicle we’ve all been loaded on to get to Doha hasn’t gotten us there,” he said.

The Indian minister said he would go to Washington mid-June for follow-up talks with Kirk.

The Doha round of talks started in Qatar in 2001 with the aim of removing trade barriers and subsidies, particularly in agriculture, by 2013.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean, who was chairing the Cairns Group meeting, said he was “enormously encouraged” by the willingness of the US and Indian representatives to re-engage.

But the group said it was “deeply disappointed” by Washington’s recent decision to reintroduce dairy export subsidies in response to similar action by the European Union.

China promised last month to send companies on multi-billion dollar spending sprees in Europe and called on the EU to resist trade barriers.

Vice-Premier Wang Qishan told EU officials on May 7 that the Chinese government will send several business delegations to Europe to repeat a February shopping trip where they spent $13.6 billion on contracts in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland.Dell GD761.