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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.

Public Version of BCI 

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

The product of concern is a tension rod guide made of steel. It measures 19-7/16" x 1.6" x 4" 

and weighs 3.629 kg. The tension rod guide is installed into a mechanical, double-acting, 

automatic tension slack adjuster that regulates brake cylinder piston travel on rail freight cars 

that are not self-propelled. 

3. 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/

8607211000

4. Requestor Information

Requestor Name (Last, First): Addison, Zed

Organization Name: New York Air Brake LLC

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

Requestor Representative: John K. Veroneau, Covington & Burling LLP 

5. Requestor’s relationship to the product: Importer

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

YES

7. Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential information

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

Public Version of BCI 
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8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?

NO

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

NO

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.

2017 Quantity: 

2016 Quantity: 

2017 Value: [ ] 

2016 Value: [ ]

2015 Value: [ ] 2015 Quantity: 

[ ] pieces 

[ ] pieces

[ ] pieces

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).

As is detailed in the attachment to this form: (1) this product is currently available only from 

China; (2) imposition of supplemental duties would cause severe economic harm to New York Air 

Brake and other U.S. interests; and (3) duties would not advance the Administration’s goals in this 

investigation, as air brake systems and components are not strategically important or related to 

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

For additional information, please see the attached. 
748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

October 9, 2018 PUBLIC VERSION

Business Confidential Information 

Deleted on Page 3

VIA ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION

Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer 

U.S. Trade Representative

600 17th St. NW 

Washington, DC 20508 

Re: Docket No. USTR-2018-0025: New York Air Brake Request for Exclusion From the 

Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

On behalf of New York Air Brake LLC (“NYAB”), we respectfully submit the following 

rationale in support of our request to exclude tension rod guides that are part of an automatic 

slack adjuster (hereinafter, “tension rod guides”), classified under HTSUS subheading 

8607.21.1000, from the determination of action pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 

1974.1

NYAB is a leading supplier of air brake systems and components to the U.S. rail 

industry. At a high level, air brakes use compressed air, rather than brake fluid, to power braking 

mechanisms on railcars. Brakes are activated when the compressed air from each railcar’s

reservoir pushes on a piston attached to the brake cylinder. We offer a range of products that 

ensure the efficient and effective operation of this process, including slack adjusters that regulate 

brake cylinder piston travel. 

We proudly perform almost all of the work on our brake systems out of our Watertown, 

New York headquarters. At these headquarters, we employ over 500 individuals involved in all 

stages of the production process, including design, validation, development, and final assembly. 

The Section 301 tariffs imposed following the U.S. Trade Representative’s (“USTR”)

investigation into Chinese intellectual property practices threaten these operations and, as we 

detail below, place NYAB at a competitive disadvantage relative to our primary competitor with

manufacturing operations in Mexico. 

NYAB recognizes and appreciates the Administration’s commitment to fair and

reciprocal trade. We are concerned, however, that the continued imposition of tariffs on tension 

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.
Rationale for Exclusion 

October 9, 2018 

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748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

rod guides would cause severe economic harm to U.S. interests without advancing the 

Administration’s policy objectives in this investigation. 

I. Tension Rod Guides Cannot Be Sourced from Suppliers Outside of China Without

Lengthy and Disruptive Production Delays, If At All

Although NYAB maintains a substantial manufacturing presence in New York, we do not

have the facilities needed to produce all the components into our final assemblies. We must 

source parts from a varied network of suppliers in the United States and abroad. Once a supplier 

has been selected, NYAB must begin the lengthy process of obtaining clearance from the

Association of American Railroads (“AAR”) (the industry’s leading standard-setting body) for 

sale in the United States. This process is time-consuming and expensive, requiring extensive 

testing that often takes a year or more to culminate in final approval. 

NYAB currently has only one approved supplier for the tension rod guides that are the 

subject of this exclusion request. This supplier is located in China. We are in the process of 

identifying other producers (if any) outside of China who are able and willing to supply this 

particular part. Even if we locate a new supplier, NYAB would not be able to use that source 

unless and until it secures the necessary approval from the AAR. Because AAR testing occurs at 

the systems level, NYAB cannot secure approval for just a single part; instead, NYAB must 

restart the lengthy process anew each time that it switches input suppliers. During the period of 

any approval process, NYAB would effectively be shut out of the market while its primary 

competitor with value-added assembly operations outside the United States (i.e., in Mexico) 

would enjoy continued market access.2

 

For the foregoing reasons, the product subject to this exclusion request is available only 

from China.3

II. Additional Duties Would Cause Severe Economic Harm to NYAB and Discourage

U.S. Manufacturing

The continued imposition of supplemental tariffs will cause severe economic harm to

NYAB and to broader U.S. interests. Sales of slack adjustors accounted for a substantial 

2 NYAB does not have sufficient inventory on hand to avoid supply disruptions during the approval process, nor is 

NYAB able to acquire such inventory given that the only currently-approved supplier for tension rod guides is 

located in China. 

3

 We are not aware of any “comparable product” for tension rod guides; these are specialized parts for which there 

are no known substitutes. 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, 31,183 (July 11, 2018) (requiring that 

submitters address whether a “comparable product” is available from sources in the United States and/or third 

countries). 
Rationale for Exclusion 

October 9, 2018 

Page 3 

748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

percentage of NYAB’s total gross sales in 2017.4 We are not able to easily offset the impact of

tariffs on such an important product line. Because we are a small business, we cannot absorb a 

major increase in costs without laying off workers. This means that over 500 jobs in 

Watertown, New York (a city with a total population of less than 30,000) are at risk, including 

the approximately 350 employees who contribute to our manufacturing efforts and the 

approximately 50 employees who help design and develop our brake control systems. 

NYAB is also limited in its ability to pass the added tariff costs on to its customers. We

operate in a specialized industry with only one major competitor, Wabtec Corporation 

(“Wabtec”).5 Wabtec, like NYAB, must source certain components into its brake assemblies 

from China. However, because it assembles in Mexico parts imported from China, Wabtec is

able to avoid the impact of Section 301 tariffs when exporting finished products to the United 

States. If NYAB substantially increases its prices, then we will simply lose valuable market

share to Wabtec. Even though both NYAB and Wabtec source parts from China, only NYAB

bears the burden of Section 301 duties. 

In sum, in light of its main competitor’s ability to avoid tariffs, Section 301 tariffs put 

NYAB in a competitive disadvantage that endangers high-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs. 

Rather than bring jobs back to the United States, the tariffs at issue in this request threaten U.S. 

jobs and to harm the downstream users of our products, the railroad industry, who rely on 

NYAB’s products for the safe and efficient operation of their railcars. 

III. Tension Rod Guides Are Not A Priority of “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese

Industrial Policies

The severe economic harm caused by tariffs on tension rod guides will not be matched by

a countervailing policy benefit. Parts for air brake systems, including tension rod guides, are not 

strategically important or related to Made in China 2025 or other Chinese industrial policies. 

Although the development of advanced rail transportation equipment is identified as a priority in 

the Made in China 2025 initiative, air brake systems are not the type of high-technology targeted 

by the initiative. The initiative prioritizes the development of a “new generation” of green, highspeed rail equipment systems.6

 Railway air brakes have been in existence since the late 1800s; 

4 Sales of slack adjustors accounted for approximately [ ] percent of NYAB’s total gross sales in 2017. The 

Chinese-origin tension rod guide components that we purchase represent approximately [ ] percent of the cost of 

producing finished slack adjustors. While these numbers alone are substantial, they become even more so when 

considering that Section 301 tariffs impact multiple parts and product lines, and when taking into consideration

NYAB’s status as a small business with limited ability to absorb added costs.

5 To the best of our knowledge, Wabtec and NYAB collectively account for approximately 85 percent of the air

brake systems and components market.

6 See generally Notice on Issuing “Made in China 2025,” § III.6(5) (State Council, Guo Fa {2015} No. 28, issued 

May 8, 2015).
Rationale for Exclusion 

October 9, 2018 

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748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

although we continue to make product improvements at the margins, these improvements are not 

intended to result in the technological “breakthroughs” 7 that Made in China 2025 contemplates.

Additionally, the injurious intellectual property practices that this Section 301 

investigation seeks to remedy are not felt by the air brake manufacturing sector. 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) governmentsanctioned 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.

8

 NYAB has not itself been a victim of any of these practices, nor is 

NYAB aware that these problems exist more broadly in the air brake manufacturing sector. 

In sum, the continued imposition of Section 301 duties on tension rod guides and other 

air brake system components would be neither “practicable” nor “effective” to “obtain the 

elimination of China’s {unfair} acts, policies, and practices.”9

 

7 See id. 

8 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).

9 See 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, 14,908 (Apr. 6, 2018) (during the initial comment process, 

requesting that parties address whether “imposing increased duties on a particular product would be practicable or 

effective to obtain the elimination of China’s acts, policies, and practices . . . .”).
Rationale for Exclusion 

October 9, 2018 

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748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

* * * * *

For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that USTR grant a narrow, one-year 

product exclusion for tension rod guides imported under HTSUS subheading 8607.21.1000 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. 

Sincerely,

/s/ Zed Addison 

Zed Addison 

New York Air Brake LLC
748 Starbuck Avenue, Watertown, New York 13601 | Phone +1 315 786-5200 Administration Fax: +1 315 786-5676 

6

COMPANY CERTIFICATION

I, Zed Addison, acting as Business Process Expert – International Trade & Customs Compliance

for New York Air Brake LLC, certify that I prepared or otherwise supervised the preparation of 

the attached submission entitled “New York Air Brake Request for Exclusion From the 

Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301,” as well as the accompanying “Form to 

Request Exclusion of Product,” filed on October 9, 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. 

Signature: /s/ Zed Addison

Date: October 9, 2018