UPDATED at 10:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON – The White House Monday will demand through a world trade panel that China stop subsidizing auto parts made for export, arguing the practice undercuts manufacturers in Ohio and elsewhere by reducing the cost of Chinese auto parts and encourages U.S. companies to outsource jobs, senior administration officials said.

While President Barack Obama travels to Columbus and Cincinnati Monday for campaign appearances, his administration also will ask the World Trade Organization, or WTO, to step up a review of what the White House says are unfair duties that China levies on American-made cars. The case is technically separate from the auto parts case but the administration says it presents another example of China's trade-policy abuse.

Senior administration officials say they began looking at Chinese abuses in auto parts after Obama formed the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center in March to more aggressively review trade violations. Officials who discussed these matters with The Plain Dealer on the condition that they not be named, since new cases had not been officially filed, are not members of Obama’s reelection team. But the timing of Monday's announcement is certain to take on political tones, cheered by auto- and steel-maker unions and Democrats while likely denounced as political theater by Republicans.

A group of 188 Congress members, including Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and fellow Democrats from auto-manufacturing states, asked the White House in March to begin examining the auto parts, saying Chinese auto parts imports increased almost 900 percent since 2000. Brown said that Monday's planned action is “the type of proactive approach we need to preserve Ohio and America’s auto parts sector.”

The auto industry is already playing a role in Obama’s campaign against Republican challenger Mitt Romney, especially in Ohio. Auto manufacturing directly employs more than 770,000 people in the United States, the White House said, with about 475,000 of these jobs in parts manufacturing. That’s not counting jobs in associated industries that make steel, aluminum, plastics, and electronics.

In Ohio, 54,200 people work directly in the auto-parts industry, the White House said. When associated jobs are counted, the entire auto industry accounts for 12.4 percent of Ohio’s employment, the White House said.

Romney criticizes Obama regularly as weak on enforcing trade laws with China, as he did Friday when campaigning in Painesville. The former Massachusetts governor has said that on his first day in office, he would demand that China stop manipulating its currency value or face tariffs. The Obama White House agrees that China currency manipulation can make it hard for this country’s manufacturers to compete but, like President George W. Bush’s administration, says it believes the proper venue for a solution is through Treasury Department negotiations.

House of Representatives Republicans have also resisted demands to take China to the mat over currency. Some fear that it would start a trade war, with China retaliating by raising consumer prices here and using its large holdings in U.S. government bonds to apply economic pressure.

On Monday morning, Romney issued this response to the White House announcement:

“President Obama has spent 43 months failing to confront China's unfair trade practices. Campaign-season trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it is too little, too late for American businesses and middle-class families. President Obama’s credibility on this issue has long since vanished. I will not wait until the last months of my presidency to stand up to China, or do so only when votes are at stake. From Day One, I will pursue a comprehensive strategy to confront China's unfair trade practices and ensure a level playing field where our businesses can compete and win.”

Also on Monday morning, China notified the WTO of its own new beef with the United States over restrictions on Chinese exports.

China requested consultations with the United States, through the WTO, on duties and anti-dumping measures applied to Chinese exports of paper, steel, tires, magnets, chemicals, kitchen appliances, wood flooring, and wind towers.

Autoworkers, their families and neighbors are an important Ohio voter constituency. Obama’s campaign emphasizes how the White House helped rescue General Motors and Chrysler, saving and adding jobs in places like Lordstown. While Democrats and some experts say the bailout may have saved the entire domestic industry, Romney opposed the government’s extensive role, which he and fellow Republicans say resulted in the government picking winners and losers among factories, dealerships and worker pensions.

Against this backdrop, the administration will go to the WTO. It has two separate but related requests:

[?] That China stop subsidizing its auto-parts industry. By filing with the WTO, the White House will initiate a dispute-resolution process that starts the clock on “consultations,” or negotiations. At this stage, the complaining party does not seek punitive measures but asks China to stop what the United States says is an unfair practice. If there is no resolution within 60 days, the United States can ask the WTO to begin its own investigation, a process than can end eventually with tariffs or other economic sanctions.

[?] That the WTO begin a review that the United States hopes will end with an order for China to stop levying duties on autos and SUVs exported to China. China has a burgeoning consumer market that American car makers want to tap, but they say China is making it hard to do so by putting duties on more than 80 percent of the U.S.-made cars shipped there in 2011. The United States filed an initial WTO case seeking consultations in July, complaining of China’s duties on $3.3 billion worth of U.S-made cars. Attempts at negotiating with China have failed, the administration says.

When China joined the WTO in 2001, it agreed to abide by rules written for open markets, the White House said. China has benefited from WTO membership, with its clothes, electronics and other consumer products found in most American homes. That beneficial role is why the senior administration officials say they do not fear retaliation for taking action Monday.

The administration officials, in a joint telephone interview with The Plain Dealer Sunday, did not identify specific subsidies that China provides its parts makers. But they said China’s central government encouraged provincial governments to establish export zones for parts makers. This resulted in at least 12 Chinese “export bases” with tax breaks or other subsidies that the United States believes are unfair and cost Americans jobs, the White House said.

The officials also did not identify specific parts or brands that are exported to the United States. But they said they include parts used on new vehicles as well as after-market parts for repairs. They said it is likely they include parts sold by auto-parts chains throughout the United States.