U.S. President Barack Obama will ask Congress for $26 million and at least 50 people for a new panel to investigate unfair trade practices by nations including China, whose Vice President Xi Jinping is scheduled to arrive today for a U.S. visit.

The 2013 budget proposal Obama will submit to Congress today contains funds for an Interagency Trade Enforcement Center that would monitor and enforce trade agreements and laws, according to an administration official. Obama announced his intention to create the panel, which would include lawyers, researchers, analysts and agents supported by the Commerce Department and U.S. Trade Representative, in his Jan. 24 State of the Union speech.

Obama is also seeking in his budget an additional $13 million for Customs and Border Protection efforts to target pirated goods, $10 million to post 16 Food and Drug Administration employees in China and three U.S.-based analysts to protect against unsafe imports, said the official, who asked not to be named before the budget plan was announced.