The Obama administration has decided to launch an investigation into various Chinese practices that a major U.S. union says are robbing American workers of jobs in the burgeoning field of clean energy such as solar and wind power.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in announcing the decision that the administration considered the whole area of green technology as vitally important to America's future economic prospects.

The United Steelworkers union filed a 5,800-page petition last month contending that the Chinese government was giving Chinese companies unfair advantages over U.S. firms through the use of government subsidies that are prohibited under global trade rules.