A U.S. solar industry group fighting a rival coalition's request for steep import duties on Chinese-made solar cells and modules warned in a report on Monday that more than 60,000 U.S. jobs could be lost if such duties were imposed.

"We cannot allow one company's anti-China crusade to threaten the U.S. solar industry and tens of thousands of American jobs," said Jigar Shah, president of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE).

The United States expects Asia Pacific leaders on Sunday to take a "significant step" toward reducing tariffs and other barriers that block trade in environmentally-friendly good and services, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

"We're in a good place. We has some very constructive discussions around the important issue of environmental goods and services trade liberalization," the U.S. official told Reuters at the annual summit meeting of the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The United States on Wednesday accused China of illegally subsidizing the production of wind power equipment and asked for talks at the World Trade Organization, the first step in filing a trade case.

U.S.

U.S. action is needed in coming months to help propel world trade talks and climate change negotiations to a successful conclusion, a European Union official said on Monday.

U.S. business groups frustrated with the slow pace of nearly 8-year-old world trade talks urged the Obama administration on Monday to remove negotiations on environmental goods and services from the Doha round and pursue them separately.

Leading U.S. business groups warned Congress Wednesday it could start a "green trade war" by passing a climate change bill that threatens other countries with tariffs on energy-intensive goods.

China and other developing nations must help "pay" for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Monday, backing off a recent statement that put a greater burden on the United States.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Friday he will travel to China this year to promote sales of US clean energy goods as part of the Obama administration's effort to fight global warming.

"This would be a win-win for jobs in the United States, as well as addressing a very serious problem of the planet," Locke told Reuters in an interview.

The Obama administration wants to ensure that legislation being crafted by Congress to fight global climate change does not violate international trade rules and backfire on US exports, the top US trade official said in a letter to a Republican lawmaker.

Rich countries cannot afford to start a trade war with China and other developing countries that they believe are not doing enough to fight global warming, the Netherland's top trade official said on Wednesday.