September 5, 2018 

Submitted via regulations.gov

Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer 

U.S. Trade Representative 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 

600 17th Street NW 

Washington, DC 20508 

RE: Request 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 (USTR-2018-0025) 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer: 

GHL International, Inc. (“GHL”) and Pioneer Pet Products, LLC (“Pioneer Pet”) hereby submit 

this request to exclude items under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTS”) 

subheading 8421210000 from the additional ad valorem duty of 25 percent on approximately 

$34 billion worth of Chinese imports.103

GHL is a 29-year-old company registered in 1989 in the State of Wisconsin as an S corporation 

with approximately 350 employees, 50 employees are in the U.S. with the remainder located in 

China. GHL is the parent corporation of multiple wholly-owned subsidiaries in the U.S. and 

China and holds interest in additional affiliates. GHL supplies products across the globe 

originating from both the U.S. and China. An example would be components for the high speed 

trains in China manufactured at one of our wholly owned facilities in China. 

GHL owns more than 100 active patents registered around the world. These patents are assigned 

only to the U.S.-based companies and cover technologies such as: 

• Furniture, 

• LED and HID lighting, 

• Various pet products, 

 

103 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, 83 Fed. Reg. 28710 (Jun. 20, 2018). 
2

• Protein grinding for human consumption and pet food, and

• Starch chemistry supporting cat litter, fermentation, and waste oil/chemical clean up.

Our core strength is in our multiple company diversity, each having different core engineering 

and marketing skills. Separately, each company has its own strengths and can stand alone in its 

market. Pioneer Pet is a wholly owned subsidiary of GHL. 

Pioneer Pet is a small business headquartered in Cedarburg, Wisconsin with a long history of 

manufacturing and supplying a wide variety of pet products to U.S. consumers. Our legacy dates 

back to the 1990s when our founder, Betsy Lipscomb, began making cat scratching posts by 

gathering wooden fence posts from her farm in Wisconsin. We started a company whose sole 

mission was to enhance the quality of our pets’ lives, by providing for their behavioral needs. 

From these humble beginnings, we have grown our business with a sole mission in mind, to 

provide superior products that will improve the quality of life for pets and their owners. 

Pioneer Pet employs 38 employees in the U.S. Our company is one of the U.S.’s primary 

suppliers of specialty pet products and we are dedicated to providing our customers with 

solutions for their pet behavior needs. From cat scratching posts to pet water fountains, from pet 

feeder to specialty litter, our business provides U.S. and international (including China) 

consumers solution-based products to tame pet’s bad behaviors in the home without taking away 

their natural instincts. Our historical core expertise has been hard goods such as cat furniture, 

litter boxes, pet toys, accessories, pet drinking fountains, feeders and training products. Our 

Ultimate Scratching Post is the bestselling scratching post on Amazon.com. Our pet fountains 

are also leaders in the pet industry. We do all the private branding for a major pet retailer’s pet 

fountains. We are proud that our business is a leader in the U.S. industry and helps serve millions 

of U.S. consumers. 

CXXXVII. Product Description

We request that USTR exclude Pet Filter Replacement that is imported under HTS subheading 

8421210000. 

Item: Pet Filter Replacement 

HTS subheading: 8421210000 

Item Description: The water filter cartridge is constructed of two filtration pads. The first is a 

duo density polyester felt pad that provides limited filtering and acts as a carrier for the carbon. 

The second is composed of activated carbon to absorb bad tastes and odors from the water. In 

between the pads is granulated charcoal, which is just carbon, used to expand the filtration 

surface area. The essential character of this complete filtering apparatus is imparted by the 

activated carbon. 

Material(s): Plastic, Felt and charcoal 

Item Size (inches): 0.2 H x 4.5 W x 2.375 D 

Item Weight (pounds): 0.1 
3

CXXXVIII. Pioneer Pet Cannot Source Pet Filter Replacement From Countries 

Outside Of China. 

Pet Filter Replacement and comparable products are not available in the U.S. or countries outside 

of China. While we have explored the possibility of sourcing these products from other 

countries, there are no alternative manufacturers of Pet Filter Replacement. 

There are currently no U.S.-based sources that manufacture Pet Filter Replacement. Developing 

the necessary manufacturing capacity within America is technically and economically infeasible 

in the short term to maintain our current supply of Pet Filter Replacement and continue to meet 

the needs of U.S. pet owners. In sum, shifting to a non-Chinese source for these products is not a 

viable option at this time. 

The additional 25 percent ad valorem tariff would severely disrupt our entire engineering and 

manufacturing processes and ability to supply our U.S. customers. Pet Filter Replacement is 

 in Changsha, China, a company that GHL has a . 

Our ownership interest in did not come about due to any Chinese government policy; 

instead we made the decision to invest to gain better control of our supply chain and the quality 

of our products. Additionally, the profits that GHL makes from its relationship with do not 

remain in China, but instead end up in the U.S. for GHL’s use and investment.

We have had a business relationship with for over seventeen years. is a plastic 

injection molding company with expertise focused not only on the molding but also the 

engineering associated with assemblies and retail-ready shelf products for our Pioneer Pet 

furniture, fountains, litter accessories, and electronic toys. Where appropriate uses GHL 

design and utility patents and intellectual property to make our products, but has no 

ownership in those patents and associated intellectual property. is also Pioneer Pet’s 

licensed distributor of pet products in China. Because of our ownership interest in the 25 

percent tariff on this Pet Filter Replacement causes additional harm to GHL and Pioneer Pet by 

potentially requiring us move our supply chain to outside of China, instead using our own 

manufacturing facility. However, to reiterate, we have been unable to identify a source of our 

product from any other manufacturers outside of China or within the U.S. Thus, the tariff will 

harm U.S. based interests instead of harming solely Chinese based interests, while reducing our 

ability to bring home profits of our goods manufactured at 

CXXXIX. The Imposition of this Duty on Pet Filter Replacement Has a Significant 

Impact on Pioneer Pet’s Business, Resulting in a Loss of of Our 

Profits and Reduction of Pioneer Pet’s Workforce of 38 Employees. 

As you can tell from the below information, we import a significant amount of Pet Filter 

Replacement from China and imposition of this duty will negatively impact our business. 
4

Year Value (dollars) Quantity (units)

The imposition of this tariff on Pet Filter Replacement would cause severe economic harm to 

Pioneer Pet, GHL, its customers, and U.S. pet owners. Specifically for Pioneer Pet, the 

cumulative impact of these tariffs will eliminate our profits and cause significant 

damage to GHL as Pioneer Pet makes up of GHL’s profits. This product is one of our 

top selling items and is a large margin of our sales as well as contributes to the overall financial 

stability of our company. This increased tariff has impacted our ability to provide Pet Filter 

Replacement at a competitive price to our customer supply chains. The tariff will need to be 

passed on to our customers who will pass it onto U.S. pet owners, impacting approximately 1.5 

million Americans. 

Because these tariffs are currently imposed on our products we have had to lay off some of 

Pioneer Pet’s 38 employees in order to keep our fixed costs down. If the tariffs continue to be 

imposed on Pet Filter Replacement we will be forced to lay off even more employees. 

Additionally, the tariffs will prevent GHL from making any major capital investments in our 

products and our future. For example, Pioneer Pet’s fastest growing product line is its all natural 

litter products made from sorghum. We have been exploring opportunities to expand our 

relationships with U.S. farmers to increase sorghum and wheat acreage that we can purchase for 

our litter. We currently purchase in excess of 10,000,000 pounds of farm product with a growing 

export market of our sorghum litter that will be put in jeopardy from these tariffs. To support this 

increased sorghum supply, GHL would need to build a new storage facility and automatic filler. 

However, because these tariffs will significantly impede our company’s growth and reduce any 

capital that could be used to fund these projects, GHL will not be able to support U.S. sorghum 

farmers and add jobs to GHL for this additional business. 
5

CXL. Including Pet Filter Replacement in the Tariff Will Not Be Effective in 

Eliminating China’s Predatory Acts. 

USTR’s Section 301 report found that various policies and practices of the Chinese government 

are designed to promote Chinese companies as leaders in supplying certain advanced 

technologies around the world and to reduce imports of these technologies that Chinese 

industries rely upon. According to USTR and the White House’s Office of Trade and 

Manufacturing policy, China has participated in physical and cyber-enabled theft of 

technologies, required technology transfer for market access, and investment restrictions, among 

other coercive and intrusive restrictions that harm American intellectual property rights, 

innovation, and technology development.104

According to the various Section 301 reports, the technologies that China targets through its 

policies are advanced technologies in the following industries: (1) advanced information 

technology; (2) robotics and automated machine tools; (3) aircraft and aircraft components; (4) 

maritime vessels and marine engineering equipment; (5) advanced rail equipment; (6) new 

energy vehicles; (7) electrical generation and transmission equipment; (8) agricultural machinery 

and equipment; (9) new materials; and (10) pharmaceuticals and advanced medical devices.105

Notably, Pet Filter Replacement and its manufacture are not among the list of advanced 

technologies or industries that are targeted by the Chinese government policies. 

Additionally, there is no evidence that the production of Pet Filter Replacement in China has 

been a target of the aggressive trade and investment practices outlined in the reports. In fact, the 

Pet Filter Replacement manufacturing industry in China has developed independent of these 

practices due to lower labor, raw material and manufacturing costs. There also has not been 

forced technology transfer. To the contrary, Pioneer Pet holds the intellectual property right to 

the Pet Filter Replacement that our Chinese manufacturing partner produces for us and has 

supported with their engineering expertise. 

This Pet Filter Replacement has been in the pet market and in the homes of Americans for many 

years and does not contain sensitive technology or intellectual property that is the target of 

China’s practices. In fact, Pioneer Pet has been sourcing these products from our Chinese 

partners for the last 17 years and has not experienced these challenges. To the contrary, Pioneer 

Pet has enjoyed a constructive relationship with its Chinese partners and has not encountered any 

of the intellectual property theft, cyber theft, or other technology-related compilations that 

advanced technology industries have faced. In sum, our importation of the Pet Filter 

Replacement from China is not linked to any purportedly unfair practices. Imposing punitive 

tariffs on our imports, therefore, would not advance the stated objectives of the Section 301 

proceeding. 

 

104 USTR, Findings of the Investigation Into China’s Acts, Policies, And Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation Under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 1–2 (Mar. 22, 2018) [hereinafter 

Section 301 Findings]; Office of Trace and Manufacturing Policy, Executive Office of the President, How China’s 

Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and World (Jun. 

2018) [hereinafter China’s Economic Aggression].

105 Section 301 Findings, at 14. 
6

Due to these factors, we believe that targeting these tariffs on Pet Filter Replacement is 

misplaced and will not curb China’s predatory policies, and instead negatively impact U.S. pet 

owners. 

* * *

GHL and Pioneer Pet appreciate the opportunity to request this exemption from the Section 301 

tariffs. While we understand and support the motivation for fair trade policies and a level playing 

field, we respectfully request that Pet Filter Replacement imported from China under HTS 

8421210000 be exempt from the additional 25 percent ad valorem duty because it will not 

accomplish the desired purpose and will have a significant detrimental impact on Pioneer Pet and 

GHL, the business we supply, and millions of U.S. pet owners. 

Respectfully submitted, 

John Lipscomb 

President 

GHL International, Inc.