The growing importance of XML as a data interchange standard demands languages for data querying and transformation. Since the mid 90es, several such languages have been proposed that are inspired from functional languages (such as XSLT) and/or database query languages (such as XQuery). This paper addresses applying logic programming concepts and techniques to designing a declarative, rule-based query and transformation language for XML and semistructured data. The paper first introduces issues specific to XML and semistructured data such as the necessity of flexible "query terms" and of "construct terms". Then, it is argued that logic programming concepts are particularly appropriate for a declarative query and transformation language for XML and semistructured data. Finally, a new form of unification, called "simulation unification", is proposed for answering "query terms", and it is illustrated on examples.
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