Organization Name:

Note: Representatives submitting on behalf of an organization must enter information below.

Requestor Representative:

Section 301 Investigation: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation - Form to Request Exclusion of Product

When submitting a product exclusion request using this form, enter the specified 

information in the following fields and explain the basis and rationale for your statements. 

By completing this form, you certify that the information provided is complete and 

correct to the best of your knowledge. 

1. Indicate whether the comment contains business confidential information (BCI), is a public

document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

3.

2. Please provide a complete and detailed description of the product of concern:

4.

5. Requestor's relationship to the product:

CONTINUED BELOW

*

10-digit HTSUS item number* for product you wish to address in this product exclusion request:

Use numerical characters only with no special characters (example: 1023456789). For help in finding 

the HTSUS item number associated with your product, see https://hts.usitc.gov/

1

7.

6. Does this submission in regulations.gov include additional attachments?

Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential

information (BCI), is a public document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

VERSION 1

Requestor Information

Requestor Name (Last, First):
END 2

8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?:

VERSION 1

11. Please provide information in support your request, taking account of the instructions

provided in Section B of the Federal Register notice (note: text entered below can extend

beyond the apparent size of this box).

9. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in third countries?:

10. Please provide the value and quantity (with units) of the Chinese-origin product of concern

that you purchased for each calendar year specified. Limit this figure to the products

purchased by your firm (or by members of your trade association) alone. Please provide

estimates if precise figures are unavailable.

2016 Value:

2015 Value:

2017 Value:

2016 Quantity:

2015 Quantity:

2017 Quantity:
September 18, 2018

VIA REGULATIONS.GOV

Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer

U.S. Trade Representative

Office of the United States Trade

Representative

600 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL

INFORMATION REMOVED FROM

PAGES 3, 5, 6, 7, AND 8.

Re: USTR-2018-0025 – Procedures to Consider Requests for Exclusion of Particular

Products from the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301: Request of Johnson 

Outdoors Inc. and Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics Inc., for Exclusion of Certain Liquid 

Crystal Display Assemblies

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

Johnson Outdoors Inc. and its subsidiary Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics Inc.

(collectively, “Johnson Outdoors”) respectfully request an exclusion from the additional tariffs 

imposed pursuant to the June 20, 2018 Notice of Action Pursuant to Section 301, published by the

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”), for certain liquid crystal display assemblies

classifiable under provision 9014.90.6000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

(“HTSUS”).

1 Below, Johnson Outdoors provides the information requested in the separate July 

11, 2018 Federal Register notice outlining the procedures for filing exclusion requests.2 Please 

note that this submission contains confidential information. All such information is contained

1 Notice of Action and Request for Public Comment Concerning Proposed Determination of Action Pursuant 

to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and 

Innovation, 82 Fed. Reg. 28,710 (Office of the U.S. Trade Representative June 20, 2018). Please note that Johnson

Outdoors is simultaneously filing three other product exclusion requests, one of which corresponds to LCD-screencontaining products of 9013.80.7000 that are distinct from the goods covered by this request, and two of which

correspond to other goods classifiable within 9014.90.6000, HTSUS.

2 Procedures To Consider Requests for Exclusion of Particular Products From the Determination of Action 

Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual 

Property, and Innovation, 83 Fed. Reg. 32, 181 (Office of the U.S. Trade Representative July 11, 2018).
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 2 

within square brackets and will be redacted from the public version of this filing. Pages containing 

such information have been marked at the top accordingly. Johnson Outdoors hereby certifies that 

disclosure of the bracketed information would endanger trade secrets or profitability, and that the 

information would not customarily be released to the public. 

Identification of Product Subject to the Exclusion Request and Proposed Draft 

Tariff Language 

This exclusion request concerns thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays with a video 

display diagonal measuring over 216 mm but not over 432 mm, LED backlit, assembled with an 

aluminum bezel, cover glass, injection-molded plastic frame panels, cables, projected capacitive 

touch sensors, and driver circuits (provided for in 9014.90.6000), HTSUS.3 Johnson Outdoors 

imports such products, as designed and produced to its specifications, for assembly into fish 

finders. However, this exclusion request does not define the scope of the requested exclusion based 

on such use." 

3 Johnson Outdoors notes that U.S. Customs & Border Protection ("CBP") has classified similar products as 

constituent parts of the specific finished goods into which they will be assembled post-importation. See, e.g., New 

York Ruling Letter N294807 (Mar. 21, 20 18) (classifying LCD panel assembly with film-based touchscreen 

capability as part of an ultrasound machine); New York Ruling Letter N282284 (Jan. 27, 2017) (classifying LCD 

board assembly with a capacitive touch screen as a part of a radio navigational aid/remote control apparatus). 

However, CBP has in some cases classified LCD panel assemblies in Heading 9013, even where assembled with 

other components. See New York Ruling Letter NO 12089 (June 27, 2007) (classifying LCD panel assembled with 

speakers in Heading 9013). Johnson Outdoors believes that Heading 9014 appropriately describes the products 

subject to this request; however, should USTRlCBP believe that Heading 9013 describes the products, Johnson 

Outdoors submits that they are classifiable under 9013.80.7000, a provision that is also subject to the Section 301 

duties, and that this request should be treated as covering the products described as classifiable in that provision. 

4 Based on its knowledge of the market for LCD panel assemblies, Johnson Outdoors believes that products 

meeting the description above may also be produced/imported by companies other than Johnson Outdoors, 

particularly for use in OEM automobiles and other motor vehicles. 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18,2018 

Page '3 

Consistent with descriptions of similar products in past and current miscellaneous tariff 

bills and CBP ruling letters concerning products containing LCD panels, Johnson Outdoors 

proposes the following tarifflanguage: 

• thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays with a video display diagonal measuring over 

216 mm but not over 432 mm, LED backlit, assembled with an aluminum bezel, cover 

glass, injection-molded plastic frame panels, cables, projected capacitive touch sensors, 

and driver circuits. 

Annual Quantities Purchased 

Below, Johnson Outdoors identifies the quantity and value of the Chinese-origin product 

subject to this exclusion request that the company purchased annually from 2015 - 2017. 

2015 2016 2017 

Quantity (units) [ ] [ ] [ ] 

Value $[ ] $[ ] $[ ] 

Explanation for the Request 

Johnson Outdoors, based in Racine, Wisconsin, was founded by American business legend 

Sam Johnson, and has been producing and selling high-quality products for outdoors recreation 

for more than fifty years. Johnson Outdoors' products range from Humminbird® fish finders to 

trolling motors to kayaks, canoes, tents, and similar products that help countless Americans to 

enjoy the natural bounty and splendor of the United States each year. 

Humminbird fish finders, products that rely on sonar to assist recreational fishermen in 

locating underwater structure and fish, have been manufactured in Eufaula, Alabama for more than 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 4 

forty years. Johnson Outdoors, which acquired Humminbird in 2005, uses LCD panel assemblies 

of the kind subject to this request in its Eufaula production operations, which support more than 

200 American jobs. Below, Johnson Outdoors describes the basis for its exclusion request, 

addressing each of the three factors that USTR has identified in its instructions: (1) whether the 

product subject to the request is available in the United States or in countries outside of China, (2) 

whether the imposition of duties on the product would cause severe economic harm to Johnson 

Outdoors or other U.S. interests, and (3) whether the products at issue is strategically important or 

related to "Made in China 2025" or other Chinese industrial programs. 

Whether the Product is Available Outside a/China 

The product subject to this request consists of certain LCD panel assemblies, inclusive of 

aluminum bezels, cover glass, cables, touch screen sensors, and drivers. Color LCD technology 

was originally developed in Japan in the 1970s, and the production of LCD screens for television 

and other use was at first concentrated there. As the technology developed and new market entrants 

began to produce LCD screens for non-television use, production gradually moved and is now 

almost entirely concentrated in China. While there is still some LCD panel production in Japan 

and Taiwan, this is in-house production by companies that use their production in their own goods, 

and do not manufacture or sell LCD panels for other manufacturers' use. 

One consequence of the Asian development and production history of color LCD 

technology is that there are no U.S. producers of LCD panels. Indeed, the sole U.S. mass producer 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

PageS 

of LCD televisions uses imported LCD panels in its production operations.' Johnson Outdoors, 

like other U.S. companies that use LCD panels in their U.S. production operations, is unable to 

source such products outside of China. 

Based on its knowledge of the market for LCD panel assemblies, Johnson Outdoors does 

not believe that the imposition of tariffs is likely to result in the development of a robust LCD 

panel production industry in the United States or even in third countries outside of Asia. As noted 

below, the Administration is not applying duties to third-country products that incorporate 

Chinese-origin LCD panel assemblies. Thus, the duties that the Administration has imposed on 

Chinese-origin LCD panel assemblies affect only U.S. companies that use such products in their 

U.S. production operations, disadvantaging them relative to competitors that use such Chineseorigin inputs in production operations located in third countries. The duties are accordingly 

unlikely to produce price effects sufficient to induce any investment in U.S. or additional thirdcountry production of LCD panels assemblies. 

Importantly, the contract manufacturers that Johnson Outdoors work with in China to 

produce LCD panel assemblies to Johnson Outdoors' specifications do so as a means of filling out 

their production capacity, which is overwhelmingly focused on large-volume production of LCD 

panels for other industries and markets. The volumes required by Johnson Outdoors 

(approximately [ ] panel assemblies yearly across all fish finder product lines) 

See, e.g., Letter from Element Electronics to Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, re: Comments of 

Element Electronics Concerning Request for Comments Concerning Proposed Modification of Action Pursuant to 

Section 301: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and 

Innovation (July 20,2018), Docket No. USTR-2018-0026, Tracking No. lk2-94dq-hirl. 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 6 

are simply not large enough to justify any LCD panel manufacturer in relocating production 

outside of China or investing in new production elsewhere. Therefore, not only are the LCD panel 

assemblies subject to this request currently not available in the United States or in third countries 

outside of China, Johnson Outdoors has no reason to believe that these products will be produced 

in the United States or third countries outside of China in appreciable quantities in the reasonably 

foreseeable future. 

Whether Duties Will Cause Severe Economic Harm 

Johnson Outdoors uses LCD panel assemblies of the kind subject to this request in its U.S. 

production of fish finders, products that rely on sonar to assist recreational fishermen in locating 

underwater structure and fish. Johnson Outdoors is proud to be the only company that 

manufactures such products domestically, assembling approximately [ ] fish finders 

annually in Eufaula, Alabama, where Humminbird fish finders have been made for more than forty 

years. Johnson Outdoors' domestic fish finder operations rely on more than 200 workers in 

Eufaula, and employ an additional 55 workers in software development, engineering, and 

marketing for Johnson Outdoors' fish finders in Alpharetta, Georgia, Little Falls, Minnesota, and 

Racine, Wisconsin. 

This domestic production, however, relies on imported inputs that simply cannot be 

sourced domestically. The 25% tariffs that have been imposed on tariff line 9014.90.60 not only 

raise Johnson Outdoors' input costs, they put the company's domestically-produced, Humminbird 

brand fish finders at a severe competitive disadvantage relative to competitor products, which are 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18,2018 

Page 7 

assembled in Mexico and Taiwan, and are thus not subject to the Section 301 duties. Indeed, 

becausefully-assembledfishfinders are classifiable in a duty-free provision, 9014.80.2000, these 

competitor products are subject to no duties at all. 

Importantly, these competitor products, like Johnson Outdoors' U.S.-produced fish finders, 

rely on Chinese-origin inputs, including Chinese-origin LCD panel assemblies. Thus, the Section 

301 duties have the perverse impact of not only advantaging Johnson Outdoors' competitors' nonU.S. production operations, they permit Johnson Outdoors' competition to utilize Chinese-origin 

inputs in their production with no duty consequences, while obliging Johnson Outdoors to pay 

significant duties to obtain critical inputs for which there are no U.S. sources. 

The market for recreational fish finders is highly cost-competitive. While Johnson 

Outdoors conducts significant U.S.-based research and development to bring consumers new and 

better fish finder products every year, cost is a significant factor in consumers; purchasing 

decisions. Simply put, pushing the costs of the duties down to consumers would require Johnson 

Outdoors to significantly raise the prices for its fish finders. But whether Johnson Outdoors passes 

costs along or absorbs them itself, the consequences will be significant: fewer sales, and thus fewer 

U.S. jobs in assembling fish finders and developing new fish finder technology. 

Nor are jobs in Eufaula, Alpharetta, Racine and Little Falls the only likely casualties of 

these duties. Johnson Outdoors manufactures and sells a range of outdoor products. But fishing 

products are at the heart of Johnson Outdoors sales. Humminbird represents more than [ ] percent 

of the company's fishing-related business, accounting for over $[ ] million of the company's 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 8 

overall fiscal 2017 sales volume of $[ ] million. Thus, the 25% tariffs on the Chinese-origin 

LCD panel assemblies that Johnson Outdoors sells will reverberate throughout the company, 

affecting its overall sales and profitability, and putting American jobs at risk from Alabama to 

Wisconsin and beyond. 

As previously noted, Johnson Outdoors is currently the only company producing fish 

finders in the United States. Johnson Outdoors believes that it has benefited significantly from 

keeping its fish finder production operations in the United States. In particular, Johnson Outdoors' 

U.S. production operations - which include U.S. production and programming of the printed 

circuit board assemblies that function as the ''brains'' of the product ., allow the company to 

maintain a significant amount of control over its intellectual property, to maintain high standards 

of quality, and react flexibly and quickly to market demand. But the additional 25% duties on 

critical inputs stand to quickly tum the, cost-benefit analysis that has favored Johnson Outdoors' 

U.S. production operations on its head. Ultimately, the company may be forced to consider 

something it is loath to do, i.e., relocating its assembly operations abroad, as its competitors have 

already done. Johnson Outdoors hopes to avoid this outcome, which would in no way advance the 

Administration's laudable goal of combatting unfair Chinese trade practices, but would instead 

leave a U.S. company weakened, while reducing employment in American communities that rely 

on the jobs that Johnson Outdoors has provided for generations. 

Whether the Product is Strategically Important or Related to Chinese Industrial Policies 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 9 

Johnson Outdoors does not believe the LCD panel assemblies that are the subject of this 

request are strategically important to the Government of China or related to government-sponsored 

industrial policies. For example, in its "Made in China 2025" policy, the Government of China has 

committed significant resources to raising China's innovation, production, and international 

profile in key industry sectors, such as advanced information technology, robotics, aviation 

equipment, etc. While it is of course possible or even probable that LCD panel assemblies may be 

used in products corresponding to such industries, LCD technology itself is unlikely to be the focus 

of government-sponsored innovation in these areas. If the Government of China is at all interested 

in screen-related technologies, it is not LCD panel technology that is their likely target, but rather 

newer technologies, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology." 

Likewise, because LCD panel technology is well understood and is used across multiple 

industries, it has not been the subject to intellectual property theft or forced technology transfer. 

Indeed, Johnson Outdoors has not faced any intellectual property issues relating to Chinese 

production of the LCD panel assemblies subject to this request, or other components used in 

Johnson Outdoors' U.S. fish finder production operations, which are the subject of separate 

requests. Rather, Johnson Outdoors has faced intellectual property problems only from its 

6 See, e.g., Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, "Citing 'sensitive tech' Korean court bars ex-Samsung worker 

from Joining Chinese company" (July 5,2018), available at https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/eninews/3474835; 

Frank Fang, The Epoch Times, "Chinese Regime Laying Siege to Global Screen-Making Industry" (July 2,2018), 

available at https:/ /www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-regime-Iaying-siege-to-global-screen-makingindustry _ 2580463.html. 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18,2018 

Page 10 

competitors that assemble fish finder products outside of China, and which have infringed on 

Johnson Outdoors' patents relating to sonar technology." 

Conclusion 

Johnson Outdoors respectfully requests that USTR grant this request for an exclusion for 

thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays with a video display diagonal measuring over 216mm 

but not over 432 mm, LED backlit, assembled with an aluminum bezel, cover glass, injectionmolded plastic frame panels, cables, projected capacitive touch sensors, and driver circuits, 

classifiable in 9014.90.6000, HTSUS. Johnson Outdoors' continued U.S. production of fish 

finders depends on this exclusion, without which the company will face severe cost increases 

relative to its competitors, who manufacture their products fully abroad, and are able to incorporate 

Chinese-origin LCD panel assemblies into their goods without any duty risk. These cost increases 

imperil American jobs, Johnson Outdoors' sales, and its. ability to continue to innovate for the 

good of the American economy. 

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned. 

7 See, e.g., Johnson Outdoors Press Release, "Johnson Outdoors and Humminbird® Receive Favorable ITC 

Ruling Against Garmin" (Nov. 18,2015), available at https:llwww.johnsonoutdoors.comlinvestor-news/johnsonoutdoors-and-humminbirdr-receive-favorable-itc-ruling-against-garmin-november. 
Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

PUBLIC VERSION 

September 18, 2018 

Page 11 

Respectfully submitted, 

Group Vice President - Fishing 

Johnson Outdoors Inc.