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 27, 2018 

VIA ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION 

Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer 

U.S. Trade Representative 

600 17th St. NW 

Washington, DC 20508 

PUBLIC VERSION 

Business Confidential 

Information Deleted on Pages 3 and 4 

Re: Docket No. USTR-2018-0025: Snow Joe Request/or Exclusion of Electric Wood 

Chippers From the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer: 

On behalf of Snow Joe LLC ("Snow Joe"), we respectfully submit the following rationale 

in support of our request to exclude electric wood chippers classified under HTSUS subheading 

8436.80.0090 from the determination of action pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 

1974. 1 

Established in 2004, Snow Joe offers a wide range of outdoor snow, lawn, and garden 

care solutions that are sold throughout the year at Home Depot and many other stores and outlets 

in the United States.2 Snow Joe currently employs approximately 300 people in the greater New 

Jersey and New York areas and recently opened a new 277,000 square foot state-of-the-art 

distribution and test facility in Mahwah, New Jersey that will support at least 100 more jobs. 

Snow Joe also has plans to open a 300,000 square foot facility in Washington state in 2020. 

Snow Joe's products are purchased by consumers looking for affordable and easy ways to 

care for their homes and gardens, without the hassle of maintaining and storing large gaspowered tools. The electric wood chippers that are the subject of this exclusion request are used 

by consumers seeking to turn yard debris into mulch for their gardens. Because they are 

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, 83 Fed. Reg. 28,710 (June 20, 2018), at Annex A. 

2 Outdoor snow tools are marketed and sold under the Snow Joe® brand name, and other lawn and garden products 

are marketed and sold under the Sun Joe® brand. 
Rationale for Exclusion 

September 27, 2018 

Page 2 

intended for use on small projects, electric wood chippers are easy-to-use and weigh under 40 

pounds. These products are also affordable, with each chipper model retailing for under $180. 

I. Electric Wood Chippers Are Available Only From China 

Snow Joe's electric wood chippers are designed and developed by workers in the United 

States, but they are manufactured in China out of necessity. Although Snow Joe would prefer to 

source from U.S. suppliers, and does so whenever feasible, we have not identified any U.S. 

suppliers of electric wood chippers. Nor are we aware of any significant production of electric 

wood chippers or a "comparable"3 product anywhere in the world outside of China.4 

U.S. manufacturing of electric wood chippers is also not commercially feasible in the 

short- or medium-term. The manufacturing of electric wood chippers in the United States would 

require the building of new production facilities from the ground up, which would require 

massive investment. Even with such investment, it would take years before the investment 

would materialize into actual production. The seasonal nature of these products - wood chippers 

are generally sold between September and November of each year- diminishes incentives for 

U.S. production. For a small or medium-sized company like Snow Joe, such an investment is 

simply not practicable. Moreover, the costs associated with building such facilities would 

ultimately make our exceedingly affordable products much more expensive, and thus out of 

reach for the average American family. 

II. Additional Duties Would Cause Severe Economic Harm to Snow Joe and 

Consumers 

Because Snow Joe's electric chippers are marketed and sold for home use, the primary 

users of these tools are ordinary "do-it-yourself' consumers who are seeking a low cost, 

environmentally sound way to clean up yards and reduce yard waste. The imposition of 

additional duties on this product would, thus, cause severe economic harm to consumers in the 

form of an immediate and direct price increase, putting these affordable tools out of reach of 

cost-conscious consumers. Moreover, without any alternative sourcing options, Snow Joe would 

be unable to offset the impact of the tariffs by purchasing domestically or from another country. 

Because of the complexities, costs, and start-up time associated with building a new factory in 

the United States, the limited supply options would persist well into the foreseeable future. 

3 See 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, 32,183 (July 11, 2018) (requiring that requestors address whether 

the "particular product and/or a comparable product is available from sources in the United States and/or in third 

countries"). 

4 Gas-powered chippers are commercially and physically distinct from the products for which Snow Joe seeks an 

exclusion. Snow Joe understands that there may be some limited U.S. assembly or manufacturing of industrialgrade gasoline chippers in the United States. However, the same is not true of electric chippers, a fact that Mr. 

Michael Kersey of American Lawnmower Company confinned in written comments submitted earlier in this 

investigation. See Letter from David M. Spooner, Counsel to American Lawnmower, Request to Appear at Hearing 

Concerning Proposed Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 (April 23, 2018), at 2. Nor are gas-powered 

chippers considered "comparable" to the electric chippers offered by Snow Joe; in fact, Snow Joe's electric and 

cordless products are specifically marketed as an alternative to gas-powered machinery. 
Rationale for Exclusion 

September 27, 2018 

Page 3 

Finally, the electric wood chippers that Snow Joe imports are in their finished product form, 

which limits Snow Joe's ability to absorb the impact of tariffs in the same way that it could if it 

were only importing components. 

In addition to consumers, suppliers of electric wood chippers will suffer economically 

from the imposition of tariffs. Electric wood chippers are an important source of revenue for 

small but growing businesses, like Snow Joe's.5 For example, disruptions in this revenue stream 

severely threaten Snow Joe's ability to maintain and create jobs. As noted above, Snow Joe 

currently supports approximately 300 jobs in the New Jersey and New York area, and the 

company is rapidly growing. This summer, Snow Joe opened a new e-commerce distribution 

facility in New Jersey that is slated to bring at least 100 more jobs to the region. Snow Joe is 

also poised to open a large e-commerce facility in Washington state that will contribute 

significant jobs in that state. Moreover, among the jobs that could be impacted by USTR' s 

tariffs are members of the R&D team responsible for driving Snow Joe's continued development 

of smart, useful and affordable products that allow U.S. consumers to maintain their own yards 

and gardens. 

In sum, Snow Joe anticipates that the imposition of tariffs on electric wood chippers will 

make these products substantially more expensive for the average consumer. Therefore, tariffs 

could deprive Americans of access to life-enhancing (and currently affordable) products that are 

only manufactured in China.6 The tariffs also threaten the ability of Snow Joe and other 

companies in the electric power tool industry to maintain and create new jobs, which would have 

severe economic consequences in the states where these companies operate. 

III. Electric Wood Chippers Are Not A Target of "Made in China 2025" or other 

Chinese Industrial Policies 

Small-scale consumer wood chippers are not strategically important to or a target of 

Chinese industrial policies, including Made in China 2025. While the development of high-end 

farming equipment is one of the identified goals of the Made in China 2025 initiative, electric 

wood chippers are not and cannot be used for large industrial farming operations.7 Instead, 

individual homeowners use electric wood chippers to maintain small gardens or clear debris in 

5 Sales of electric wood chippers (sold as a final product) accounted for just over [ ] of 

Snow Joe's gross sales in 2017 and were projected to grow to at least [ ] percent in 2018. While these numbers 

alone are significant, it becomes even more so when viewed in light of Snow Joe's total tariff exposure across the 

three product lists and the absence of an announced exclusion process for List 3. 

6 This result undermines USTR's goal of minimizing consumer impact by targeting products with alternative 

country sources. It is also inconsistent with USTR's intent to avoid tariff lines with disproportionate harm to U.S. 

interests, including consumers and small- and medium-sized business. Notice of Determination 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. 14,906, 14,907-

08 (Apr. 6, 2018). 

7 The Made in China 2025 initiative targets items such as large tractors and combine harvesters capable of 

increasing the speed and efficiency of advanced agricultural operations. It does not target consumer outdoor tools 

like electric wood chippers. See generally Notice on Issuing "Made in China 2025," § 3.6.8 (State Council, Guo Fa 

{2015} No. 28, issued May 8, 2015). 
Rationale for Exclusion 

September 27, 2018 

Page 4 

their yard. Therefore, imposing additional duties on electric chippers would be neither 

"practicable" nor "effective" to "obtain the elimination of China's {unfair} acts, policies, and 

practices."8 

Moreover, the injurious Chinese intellectual property practices that this investigation 

seeks to remedy are not felt by the electric consumer tool industry. In the underlying Section 

301 investigation, USTR found the following practices of the Chinese government to be 

unreasonable or discriminatory and burden U.S. commerce: (1) foreign ownership restrictions, 

joint venture requirements, and other investment restrictions that compel or pressure technology 

transfer from U.S. companies to Chinese entities; (2) government-sanctioned cyber intrusions 

into U.S. companies to secure sensitive business information; and (3) predatory investments in, 

and acquisitions of, U.S. companies to access intellectual property and cutting-edge 

technologies. 9 Snow Joe has not itself been a victim of any of these practices, nor is Snow Joe 

aware that these problems exist more broadly in the electric seasonal lawn tool industry. 

* * * * * 

For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that USTR grant a product exclusion 

for electric wood chippers imported under HTSUS subheading 8436.80.0090 from the 

determination of action pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. We appreciate the 

Administration's consideration of this request. 

I hereby certify that the information provided in this submission is complete and correct 

to the best of my knowledge 

ph S. Cohen 

Chief Executive Officer 

Snow Joe LLC 

8 See id. at 14,908 (requesting comments from parties on whether "imposing increased duties on a particular product 

would be practicable or effective to obtain the elimination of China's acts, policies, and practices .... "). 

Additionally, Snow Joe's imports of electric wood chippers represent only a small percentage (i.e., approximately 

[ ] percent) of the total value of imports from China under HTSUS subheading 8436.80.0090 from 2015 to 2017. 

While Snow Joe's imports of wood chippers make up only a miniscule portion of overall trade in this category based 

on statistics from ITC's Dataweb, the impact of the tariffs on Snow Joe and our consumers will be significant and 

thus warrants an exclusion from the tariffs. 

9 See generally U.S. Trade Representative, Section 301 Report Into China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to 

Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (Mar. 22. 2018). 
COMPANY CERTIFICATION 

I, Joseph S. Cohen, acting as Chief Executive Officer for Snow Joe LLC, certify that I prepared 

or otherwise supervised the preparation of the attached submission entitled "Snow Joe Request 

for Exclusion of Electric Wood Chippers From the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 

301," as well as the accompanying "Form to Request Exclusion of Product," filed on September 

26, 2018, in Section 301: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation, Docket No. USTR-2018-0025. I certify that disclosure of 

the information bracketed in the business confidential version of the submission, and redacted 

from the public version, would endanger trade secrets or profitability, and that the information 

would not customarily be released to the public. 

5