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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.

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

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5. Requestor's relationship to the product:

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10-digit HTSUS item number* for product you wish to address in this product exclusion request:

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the HTSUS item number associated with your product, see https://hts.usitc.gov/

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VERSION 1

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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

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PUBLIC VERSION

Submitted Via WWW.Regulations.Gov 

October 9, 2018

Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative

Office of the United States Trade Representative

600 17th Street NW, Room F516

Washington, DC 20508-0001

RE: USTR 2018-0025; Request for Exclusion from the Determination of Action Pursuant to 

Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation Tariff Under Harmonized Tariff Code (HTS) 

8481.90.9085

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer,

This request for exclusion is submitted pursuant to Federal Register notice published on July 11, 

20181, which establishes the process to submit exclusion requests from tariffs applied to U.S. 

imports pursuant to the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974: 

China's Acts, Policies and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property and 

Innovation. We respectfully request that the Sensing Piston imported by Swagelok Company

(Swagelok or the Company), under HTS code 8481.90.9085 be excluded from the additional 25% 

tariff imposed on this HTS code pursuant to Section 301.

Background

Swagelok Company is an Ohio corporation formed in 1947 and headquartered in Solon, Ohio. It 

has nearly $2 billion in annual sales arising out of its extensive manufacturing operations in the 

United States. Swagelok’s products include high performance gas and fluid systems 

components, filters, tubing, hoses, gauges, and valves. Most of Swagelok’s production is in Ohio 

and Pennsylvania, and, more than half of the products manufactured there are exported to 

customers outside of the U.S.

Swagelok has a 100% wholly-owned facility in China that is devoted solely to manufacturing 

certain component parts that are later incorporated into final products made in Swagelok’s U.S. 

plants. To assure complete quality control of all materials used at the China facility, Swagelok 

sources steel from the U.S. countries other than China, warehouses the steel in the U.S., and 

then sends the steel to China from Ohio as needed. In fact, most of the steel used in 

Swagelok’s China facility is U.S.-made steel that Swagelok ships to China, and the China 

facility uses no Chinese steel in the components it produces. In addition, nothing produced 

at the China facility is sold to customers. Rather, the components are exported back to Swagelok 

in the U.S. where they are substantially transformed. Swagelok uses the components in the 

assembly of final products in its U.S. plants. The imported components lose their identity and 

become part of a more complex final product with a new name, new character, and new use. 

 

1 83 Fed. Reg. 32181 – 32184 (July 11, 2018).
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Importantly, Swagelok has made the strategic decision to produce only “lower tech” component 

parts like the Stop plate at the China facility. These simple components parts (made largely from 

U.S. steel shipped to China), then are shipped to Swagelok’s Ohio plants, where they are used 

in Swagelok’s higher-level, more technologically advanced fluid system products, which 

Swagelok ships to customers in the U.S. and around the globe. Swagelok prides itself as a U.S. 

manufacturer of premium products used in critical applications throughout the world.

Now, turning to the particular product at issue, Swagelok’s part number 5R0036-S2A, described 

as a Sensing Piston, should be excluded from the additional tariff under Section 301 because, as 

outlined below, they meet the elements stated in the Federal Register notice.

1. Detailed description of the subject 5R0036-S2A Sensing Piston

The subject 5R0036-S2A Sensing Piston is classified under HTS 8481.90.9085, as parts of taps, 

cocks, valves and similar appliances, for pipes, boiler shells, tanks, vats or the like, including 

pressure-reducing valves and thermostatically controlled valves. The Sensing Piston is a 

component part of Swagelok’s KCP Series Pressure Regulators and is made from stainless steel. 

The product has a circular, disc-like shape with a 1-inch outer diameter and is approximately 3/10 

of an inch in height. The piston has an annular groove around its circumference and a cavity 

machined into its bottom surface. The component weighs approximately 4.5 grams. See 

Illustration 1 below for an illustration of the of the Sensing Piston with a schematic of the Sensing 

Piston as installed in a pressure regulator assembly.

2. The Sensing Piston are more economically available from China

Swagelok has no viable alternative for the supply of Sensing Piston. [ .] Swagelok has no real 

economic choice but to continue to obtain the Sensing Piston from its facility in China – even with 

a 25% tariff. Though continuing to obtain the Sensing Piston from Swagelok’s China facility is the 

best option, the tariff still will have the unintended and negative consequence of dramatically

impacting Swagelok's ability to sell its downstream, high-value pressure regulator product. [ ]

3. Severe economic burden to Swagelok and U.S. interests

Swagelok’s Sensing Pistons represent a critical component of the Company’s main products. 

These tariffs will cause severe and disproportionate harm to Swagelok and its ability to invest and 

manufacture in the U.S., higher prices to Swagelok’s U.S. customers, and, as discussed above, 

this would benefit Swagelok’s foreign competitors who are not burdened by the tariffs.

Because this product is one of many that Swagelok must source from its Chinese facility to 

continue to meet customer needs, the total potential impact would be significant. Yet, qualifying 

or creating a U.S. source for these low-level components simply is not feasible due to the 

additional time and expense that would be required. Because Swagelok will be forced to continue 

to source these products (largely made of U.S. steel) from China, the tariffs on these particular 

components will not pressure China to reconsider its unfair trade policies and actions. [ ] 
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4. Relevance to “Made in China 2025” program

The Sensing Piston is not a product within one of the ten industries that are the focus of the “Made 

in China 2025” program. That program focuses on higher-technology, higher value products, 

rather than lower-tech products like the Stop plate. In fact, Swagelok has made the strategic 

decision to limit the China facility to components that do not incorporate any significant intellectual 

property. Because the Sensing Pistons themselves are a low-level technology, these

components are not an item that would be susceptible to potential intellectual property or hightech appropriation by China entities. 

Further, the Sensing Piston is not covered under one of the ten industries which are the focus of 

the “Made in China 2025” program. Rather, these industries include: (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.

Additionally, the China facility is 100%-owned by Swagelok. There is no joint venture between 

Swagelok and a Chinese entity, and the China facility is not subject to any special Chinese 

administrative policies.

Thus, Swagelok has no significant intellectual property at risk at the China plant. As a result, 

applying the tariffs to the Sensing Piston does nothing to protect U.S. intellectual rights and does 

not further the U.S. government’s policy regarding the “Made in China” initiative. Applying the 

Section 301 tariff to the imports of the Sensing Piston by Swagelok simply does not serve the 

purpose of the Section 301 goals.

Conclusion

Swagelok is committed to the U.S. economy and in advancing its industrial capabilities and in 

creating jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania -- and has been for over seventy years. This is further 

evidenced by Swagelok’s plans to invest $30M-$50 million in a new corporate headquarters in 

Ohio. This project will include a new, state-of-the-art Innovation Center and Customer Welcome 

Center and will be home to approximately 300-350 employees, with room for future job growth.

Additionally, Swagelok is dedicated to the U.S. workforce. In 2017 alone, Swagelok increased its 

workforce by 488 permanent employees in Ohio and Pennsylvania. [ ]

Although Swagelok supports targeted U.S. efforts to promote uniformity in global trading

regulations with China, the negative financial and strategic impact associated with the imposition 

of these particular tariffs on this key component, along with others, would be detrimental to 

Swagelok’s growth goals and commercial competitiveness. 

For these reasons, Swagelok respectfully requests that the 5R0036-S2A Sensing Piston be 

excluded from the Section 301 tariffs covering HTS 8481.90.9085. The Sensing Pistons are 

important components not in their own right, but because they enable Swagelok to produce a 
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higher technology, higher value product here in the United States that is able to compete and win 

against foreign competitors. 

The submitter certifies that information provided is complete and correct to the best of his or her

knowledge.

Best regards,

Adrienne Braumiller, Partner

Trade Counsel for Swagelok Company

Illustration 1
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Solid Illustration of the 5R0036-S2A – Sensing Piston

Schematic of Swagelok KCP Series Pressure Regulator with Piston Installed