USTR‐2018‐0025  

Ogura Corporation                PUBLIC VERSION 

Section 301 List 1, Exclusion Request 

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

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

Is a public version of a BCI document.

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

One of the products imported from Ogura Clutch Co, Ltd., Dong Guan, our affiliated company in China, 

is a transfer case coil assembly, model A.  A photo and description is attached as Exhibit H1. 

The physical characteristics of the transfer case coil assembly are as follows: 

Model A – Outer diameter (mm) 161.84, Inner diameter (mm) 125.96, Length (mm) 35.00, Material is 

steel type SPHC, Lead wire length is long (white). 

When the transfer case coil assembly, model A is received at our manufacturing and distribution 

facility, we perform an incoming quality check, warehouse and ship to our U.S. customer based upon 

orders received.                                        

3.  10‐digit HTSUS item number* for product you wish to address in this product exclusion request 

HTSUS 8505.90.7501, Article description ‐ Other     

4.  Requestor Information 

Requestor Name (Last, First): Teller, Timothy

Organization Name: Ogura Corporation (“OC”)

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

Requestor Representative: Leslie Alan Glick, Butzel Long 

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 a BCI document 

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

Yes, but only from competitors.  Because we would be required to share customer confidential 

information with our competitors, this is a commercially impracticable option. 

There are only a couple of existing producers and they are competitors, so it’s not realistic to consider 

them for comparable product without handing our business over to them, and compromising 

confidential information relating to our customer specifications.  Additionally, a substantial amount of 

time, resources, and investment is necessary for establishing a supply line from another source in the 

U.S.  Per IATF‐16949  (International Automotive Task Force) quality management system standards 

and requirements for automotive production, parts produced from a new source are required to go  
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through strict validation and approval processes, which is very time consuming and expensive for both 

the supplier and the customer.  Even if we were able to qualify a U.S. producer, the amount of time 

this process would take would result in disruption to our supply chain and delivery schedules and be 

detrimental to our U.S. OEM customers who rely on “just in time” deliveries.                                                                             

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

Yes, but only from a major competitor.  Because we would be required to share customer confidential 

information with our competitors, this is a commercially impracticable option. 

One of our major competitors is a [                       ] company that manufacturers parts in [                        ].  

It’s important to note that they already operate with a cost advantage due to the Free Trade 

Agreement the U.S. has with [                      ].  Thus, imposing this additional tariff on China does not 

accomplish the end result expected of requiring U.S. companies to buy the product from a U.S. 

producer since a duty‐free alternative from [                      ] exists. 

10.  Please provide the value and quantity (with unit) of the Chinese – origin product of concern that you 

purchased for each calendar year specified.  Limit this figures to the products purchased by your firm (or 

by members of your trade association) alone.  Please provide estimates if precise figures are 

unavailable. 

Total of all products OC imports from our affiliate in China: 

2017 Value: $[                     ]  

2017 Quantity: [                  ] pieces  

2016 Value: $[                    ]  

2016 Quantity: [                  ] pieces 

2015 Value: $[                    ]  

2015 Quantity: [                 ] pieces 

Total transfer case coil assembly model A, OC imports from our affiliate in China: 

2017 Value: $[                  ]  

2017 Quantity: [              ] pieces  

2016 Value: $[                 ]  

2016 Quantity: [              ] pieces 

2015 Value: $[             ]  

2015 Quantity: [          ] pieces 
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PUBLIC VERSION 

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

Section B of the Federal Register notice. 

........................................................................................................................................................................................

On behalf of Ogura Corporation (“OC”), we hereby submit this request and the attached supporting 

information for Exclusion of the transfer case coil assembly pursuant to HTS 8505.90.7501, from the 

determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 Investigation into China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices 

Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property and Innovation, in accordance with the proposal 

by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to impose a tariff of an additional 25% on certain Chinese 

imports on List 1. 

1. Introduction 

OC, a Michigan corporation based in Chesterfield, MI, was established in January 1988 as a subsidiary of 

Ogura Clutch Co., Ltd., Japan, to supply automotive A/C compressor clutches to U.S. OEM automobile 

and parts manufacturers in North America.  OC began supplying products primarily to [                             ] 

[                                                                                                  ].  In the early 2000’s, OC expanded its 

production capacity to manufacture A/C clutches for Japanese transplant automobile and parts 

manufacturers, including [                                                                                                                                         ] 

[                                                                                 ].  More recently OC has expanded into transfer case coil 

assemblies and differential coil assemblies for [                                                    ].  OC also has a small 

aftermarket business that has been declining over the years. 

OC’s products are imported from Ogura Clutch Co., Ltd., Dong Guan, our affiliated company in China.  

Importing these products from our affiliate in China allows us to be competitive with other suppliers 

marketing the same products to our U.S. customers.  Maintaining production of the [                          ] 

[           ] of our products in China allows us the ability to competitively perform the final assembly and 

distribution processes in the U.S.   

2. Product is Not Available from a Commercially Practicable Source Outside China 

As explained in the responses to Nos. 8 and 9 above, the transfer case coil assembly model A is not 

available from any sources outside of China other than OC’s competitors, and OC would be forced to 

disclose its customer confidential information to its competitors.  This makes the transfer case coil 

assembly model A effectively unavailable from any source outside of China. 

3. Product is Not Related to “Made in China 2025” and is Not Strategically Important 

The manufacturing process in China is not a high‐tech operation and our products are not strategically 

important or related to “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs.   

The transfer case coil assembly we import from China has a long history of existence in the U.S. market.  

One of the first manufacturers was Four Wheel Drive Auto Company (“FWD”) of Wisconsin, around 

1908.  So even though there has been advancement since its early introduction, this is extremely old 

technology and has been around for at least 110 years.  The transfer case coil assembly imported from 

our affiliated company in China is not related to technology transfer, intellectual property or 

innovations, further supported by the existence of this type of product over the last 110 years.  The  
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PUBLIC VERSION 

transfer case coil assembly that OC imports has a [                                                                                          ], 

which in turns allows OC to distribute the final product here from our factory with a U.S. work force 

while still offering a competitive price to our OEM customer.  

Our largest customer for the transfer case coil assembly we distribute is [                                                   ] 

[                                                                                                                                                                                    ] 

[                                                                                                                          ].  The transfer case coil assemblies 

that OC produces are a significant part of [                                                        ], and OC is a major supplier 

for the [       ] transfer case coil assembly that it needs for the production of these vehicles.  The U.S. 

[        ] plant that builds these vehicles could ultimately be negatively affected as a result of [      ] 

[                                             ] due to the tariffs imposed.  [                                                                                   ] 

[                                                                                                                                           ]   

At least OC maintains as much of the production and distribution as feasibly possible in the U.S.  The 

imposition of tariffs will [                                                                                                                                       ] 

[                                                                                                                     ]. 

4. Additional Duties Would Cause Severe Economic Harm to OC, the Industry, and Other U.S. Interests 

 1. OC employs approximately [    ] employees in Chesterfield, MI of which [    ] are directly related to the 

manufacturing process and final assembly of products imported from our affiliate in China.  If we did not 

[                                                                                                                      ] to our affiliate in China, we would 

not be [                                                                                                                                                                          ] 

[                                                                                                                                                ]   

The imposition of the Section 301 tariff on our goods imported from China is potentially devastating to 

our business and will certainly cause severe economic harm to OC.  Our current annual U.S. sales are 

$[    ] million, and we import $[    ] million of product from our affiliate in China.  Due to the 25% tariff on 

these imports, OC will incur a cost increase of $[                                                   ].  This represents [    ]% of 

our annual sales of $[   ] million.  Without the imposition of tariffs, OC usually operates at [                       ] 

[                                                                                                                                                                           ] 

[                                                                                      ]. 

The transfer case coil assembly, model A represents $[     ] million of our annual U.S. sales total, and we 

import $[   ] million from our affiliate in China.  The transfer case coil assembly, model A is an integral 

part of the aforementioned business perspective.    

 2. Our U.S. customers, such as [                                                                                ] are not receptive to 

sharing any portion of the cost increase due to the tariffs imposed.  This is primarily due to our contracts 

being [                                                                                                                                                                 ] 

[               ].    

Our U.S. customers have manufacturing operations that employ workers in the U.S. and produce 

vehicles in the U.S.  Our U.S. customers will eventually suffer severe economic consequences [            ] 

[                                                                              ].   
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PUBLIC VERSION 

Larger suppliers have deeper pockets and can absorb costs and move things around.  The smaller 

suppliers [             ] can’t absorb these costs or move operations and the end result will be much worse 

than the recession that began in 2008.  Ultimately the increase in costs due to the tariffs will be passed 

on to consumers, but it will be a painful process getting to that point, with the loss of smaller companies 

and many U.S. workers along the way.  Overall the tariffs will lead to higher U.S. consumer prices, lower 

overall U.S. economic growth, higher unemployment and other unintended negative economic 

consequences. 

 3. One of our strongest competitors is a [                        ] company with their production facilities located 

in [                      ], not the U.S.  They already have an advantage because they import product into the 

U.S. duty‐ free, under the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and [                    ].  [                              ]

[                  ] they would certainly be in a position to ramp up production in [                       ] and further 

erode the U.S. work force as they have already done due to the existing Free Trade Agreement. 

 4. The imposed tariffs are certain to displace U.S. workers and weaken job prospects for the U.S. 

workforce.  [                                                                                                                                                               ] 

[                                                                                                                                                                                    ] 

[                                                                                                            ] 

[                                                                                         ] to retain our current customer base.  If we 

[                                                                                                                                                                             ] 

[             ] that are used in the final assembly and distribution process.  [                                        ] 

[                                                                                                         ] as well. 

Should you have any further questions or should additional supporting documentation be requested, 

please contact our legal counsel: Leslie Alan Glick, Esq.; Butzel Long, 1909 K. Street, N.W., Suite 500, 

Washington D.C. 20006; glick@butzel.com

We thank you for your time and sincerely hope that your careful consideration of our situation will 

result in granting us a Section 301 exclusion. 
 Transfer case coil assembly model A.

 ( Front ) ( Back )

 MODEL A

 MADE IN CHINA

 O.D. (mm) 161.84

 I.D. (mm) 125.96

 LENGTH (mm) 35.00

 MATERIAL SPHC

 LEAD WIRE LENGTH LONG (WHITE)

 EXHIBIT H1

Transfer case coil assy A
Certifications 

The requestor certifies that the information provided is complete and correct to the best of our 

knowledge and that disclosure of the business confidential information would endanger trade secrets or 

profitability, and that the business confidential information would not customarily be released to the 

public. 

Ogura Corporation 

Timothy Teller, President