490 Constitution Drive 508.977.0004 

TEL Taunton, MA 02780 

508.977.0007 FAX

www.ohlsonpack.com

October 8, 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:

Duravant LLC (“Duravant”) and Ohlson Packaging hereby submits this request to exclude items 

under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTS”) subheading 8428330000

from the additional ad valorem duty of 25 percent on approximately $34 billion worth of 

Chinese imports.53

Duravant, founded in 1910 and headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a global engineered 

equipment company with manufacturing, sales, and service facilities throughout North America, 

Europe, and Asia. We are proud to employee 2,100 people worldwide and 1,600 in the United 

States. Through our portfolio of various operating companies, we deliver trusted end-to-end 

process solutions for customers and partners through engineering and integration expertise, 

project management and operational excellence. Our operating companies have worldwide sales 

distribution and service networks that provide immediate and lifetime aftermarket support to all 

markets they serve in the food processing, packaging, and material handling sectors. Our 

customers are in a variety of markets, including frozen foods, hardware, pharmaceuticals, 

cosmetics, snack foods, and electronic components.

Ohlson Packaging, a Duravant operating company located in Taunton, Massachusetts, is a 

manufacturer of automated food packaging equipment that offers solutions for packaging 

products into bags, bottles, boxes, premade pouches, cups, containers, trays, and modified 

atmosphere packaging systems. John Henry Ohlson Sr. founded Ohlson Packaging in 1967, 

focusing on linear packaging for the hardware and fastener industry. Mr. Ohlson’s son, John 

Ohlson Jr., later expanded the business into the food packaging market. Ohlson Packaging has 

 

53 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

been proud to serve numerous food manufacturers that Ameicans love and enjoy daily, including 

Frito-Lay, Hershey’s, Kraft Foods, Tyson Foods, and Maple Leaf Foods. 

Since its founding, Ohlson Packaging has long been known for the durability and uptime 

performance critical to the success of packaging lines. Its customers see Ohlson Packaging as a

turnkey solution provider for industrial packaging, automatic and semi-automatic net weighing, 

and counting equipment. Over the many years, Ohlson Packaging has successfully sold, 

installed, and serviced numerous systems for a vast number of applications. Duravant acquired 

Ohlson Packaging in January 2018.

Overall, while Duravant and Ohlson Packaging support and understand USTR’s objectives to 

curb China’s predatory and unfair practices and policies, the Section 301 tariffs on Ohlson 

Packaging’s products have forced us to take undesirable business actions impacting our 

workforce and customers. We simply cannot afford to absorb the costs of the tariffs if we want 

to remain competitive in our market. As detailed below, we request that USTR exclude 

8428330000 from the Section 301 tariff because Ohlson Packaging’s products are only available 

from China, the tariff will result in significant financial harm to Ohlson Packaging, and tariffs on 

our products will not be effective in curbing China’s practices and policies. 

LIII. Product Description

We request that USTR exclude the Belt Conveyors that is imported under HTS subheading 

8428330000. 

Item: #VFFX-35, Belt Conveyors

HTS subheading: 8428330000

Item Description: Steel take away conveyor belt that includes welded frame with leveling feet 

and casters, motor, and food grade plastic modular conveyor belt. This belt conveyor is used to 

bring bags from bagger to working height.

Material(s): Steel and plastic

Item Size (inches H x W x D): 77x25x30

Item Weight (pounds): 400.00

LIV. Duravant Cannot Source the Belt Conveyors From Countries Outside Of China. 

The Belt Conveyors and comparable products are not available in the U.S. or countries outside of 

China. Shifting to a non-Chinese source for the Belt Conveyors is not a viable option at this time 

as the systems Ohlson Packaging sources are only available from China. 

We have explored the possibility of sourcing these products from other countries, including the 

U.S., and there are no alternative manufacturers of the Belt Conveyors outside of China. We 

believe that developing the necessary manufacturing capacity within America is technically and 

economically infeasible in the short term to meet our customers’ demand requirements. Forcing 

Ohlson Packaging to source its products from outside of China would result in a serious 

interruption to our overall supply chain with many additional costs that we will not be able to 

justify or fund due to the extensive impact of the current tariffs.
3

Finally, overhauling our supply chain to find a manufacturer outside of China for our food 

packaging equipment could have implications for food safety. Relationships with suppliers are 

essential to ensuring the equipment is manufactured in a way to meet our customer’s equipment 

specifications as well as meet their obligations under the Current Good Manufacturing Practices 

required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).54

 Because of the important of 

food safety to our customers, we rely heavily on the relationships we have established with our 

Chinese suppliers to ensure the manufacture of the Belt Conveyors meets our high quality 

specifications as well as the sanitary and design requirements of the FDA. 

LV. The Imposition of this Duty on the Belt Conveyors Has a Severe Harmful Impact 

on Duravant and Ohlson Packaging’s Business, Resulting in a Significant Profit 

Loss and Reduction of Our Workforce. 

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

Conveyors from China and imposition of this duty on this product will significantly harm 

Duravant and Ohlson Packaging, particularly when considering the cumulative impact of the 

Section 301 tariff on all of our products imported from China. 

Year Value (dollars) Quantity

2015 [ [

2016 [ [

2017 [ [

Imposing a tariff on Ohlson Packaging’s products, including on the Belt Conveyors, cause 

irreparable harm to Ohlson Packaging’s 42 employee business. The cumulative impact of the 

Section 301 tariff costs Ohlson Packaging over [ ] dollars per year, decreasing its 

gross profit by an alarming [ ]. Loss of Ohlson Packaging’s profitability affects 

Duravant as a whole because Ohlson Packaging makes up approximately ] of the 

packaging segment products and [ ] of Duravant’s profits overall. Because these 

tariffs will [ ], our growth strategy for our business will be 

negatively impacted. Given the great harm resulting from the tariff, Ohlson Packaging is forced 

to take undesirable means for relief that will impact Ohlson Packaging’s consumers and 

workforce. Ohlson Packaging must increase prices for its packaging equipment. American 

consumers will then see an increase in prices at the food market as our customers will most 

certainly pass on this price increase to them. However, due to the tight margins our customers 

operate under, the market will only allow Ohlson Packaging to pass along about a [ ] 

price increase otherwise we will no longer be competitive and risk losing [ ] 

in customers. Because Ohlson Packaging can [ ] of the Section 

301 tariff, we are also forced to reduce our small workforce. 

Additionally, none of Ohlson Packaging’s products imported from China are subject to an 

existing tariff outside of the Section 301 tariff. Given Ohlson Packaging’s products cannot be 

sourced in the U.S., there has not been a market advantage to provide. 

 

54 21 C.F.R. § 110.40. 
4

LVI. Imposing the Ad Valorem Tariff under Section 301 on the Belt Conveyors 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.55

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.56 

While the Belt Conveyors provides automated solutions for food processors, the weighing, 

counting, and filling systems we provide are not the type of robotics or automate machine tools 

targeted by the Chinese government policies. 

The Belt Conveyors does not contain sensitive technology or intellectual property that is the 

target of China’s practices. Because Ohlson Packaging’s products do not contain sensitive 

technology or intellectual property that is the target of China’s practices, we have not 

experienced any of the intellectual property theft, cyber theft, or other technology-related 

compilations that advanced technology industries have faced.

Due to these factors, we believe that targeting these tariffs on the Belt Conveyors is misplaced 

and will not curb China’s predatory policies, and instead negatively impact our businesses, 

employees, customers and U.S. consumers. 

 

55 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].

56 Section 301 Findings, at 14. 
5

* * *

Duravant and Ohlson Packaging appreciate the opportunity to request this exclusion 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 the Belt Conveyors imported from China under 

HTS subheading 8428330000 be exempt from the additional 25 percent ad valorem duty because 

the tariff will have a significant detrimental impact on Duravant and Ohlson Packaging, the 

businesses we supply, and U.S. consumers.

Respectfully submitted, 

/s/ Craig Reuther

Craig Reuther

Chief Financial Officer

Duravant LLC

/s/ John Ohlson

John Ohlson

President

Ohlson Packaging