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 particular product of concern:

4.

*

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/

7.

5. Requestor's relationship to the product:

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.

Requestor Information

Requestor Name (Last, First):

VERSION 2 CONTINUED BELOW 1

PUBLIC VERSION
8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States? (If you

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

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 Value:

2016 Value:

2015 Value:

2017 Quantity:

2016 Quantity:

2015 Quantity:

% of your total gross sales in 2017 that the Chinese-origin product accounted for.

% of the total cost of producing the final product(s) the Chinese-origin input 

accounts for.

% of your total gross sales in 2017 that sales of the final product(s) incorporating 

the input accounted for.

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indicate "NO", you must provide support for your assertion in Box 12).

indicate "NO", you must provide support for your assertion in Box 12).

11. Is the Chinese-origin product of concern sold as a final product or an input used in

a) For imports sold as final products, please provide:

b) For imports of inputs used in the production of final products, please provide:

the production of a final product or products?

PUBLIC VERSION
12. Please provide information in support your request, taking account of the

VERSION 2 END 3

instructions provided in Section B of the Federal Register notice. If you

responded "NO" to Questions 8 or 9, you must provide support for your

assertion in the box below. (Note: text entered below can extend beyond the

apparent size of this box).

PUBLIC VERSION
PUBLIC VERSION 

Johnson Controls, Inc. ("Johnson Controls") seeks an exclusion of the 25% tariff recently 

imposed under Section 301 upon certain. Chinese imports. As outlined below, Johnson 

Controls qualifies for this exclusion because (1) Absorption Chillers (as described below) 

are not available from a source outside of China without significant investments or 

compromising its intellectual property; and (2) the additional duties cause severe economic 

harm to Johnson Controls. 

Consistent with USTR's Section 301 notice, Johnson Controls requests confidential 

treatment for the information designated as business confidential in this submission. Such 

information consists of information that would not customarily be released to the public, 

including business or trade secrets regarding production costs and processes, data on sales, 

product characteristics, customers, destinations, and other product, sales, and cost-related 

business secrets. Business confidential information has been indicated herein by enclosing 

it in single brackets ("[ ]"). A public version of these comments is also being filed with all 

confidential information removed. 

I. Relevant Absorption Chillers and Tariff Lines 

Johnson Controls imports lithium bromide water based absorption chillers ('"Absorption 

Chillers"). The Absorption Chiller is imported by Johnson Controls into the U.S. under 

HTSUS code 8418.69.0160. To the best of our knowledge, all Absorption Chillers in the 

U.S. are imported as there are no companies that manufacture Absorption Chillers in the 

U.S. 

[ 

[ ] months training personnel and 

qualifying production lines. 

While manufacturing is done in the Wuxi Plant, product management and support for 

Absorption Chillers is global. In the U.S., Johnson Controls has employees that support its 

U.S. customers throughout the product life cycle, many of these customers are government 

entities. Johnson Controls takes pride in investing in its people and providing exceptional 

support to its U.S. customers, ensuring that their systems are running successfully and 

reliably, 

Johnson Controls anticipates that imports of Absorption Chillers will be approximately $4 

million per year##. 

A sample photo of the Absorption Chillers is provided in Exhibit 1. 
PUBLIC VERSION 

II. Absorption Chillers are Not Available from a Source Outside of China 

Johnson Controls is not able to source Absorption Chillers from another Johnson Controls 

plant or a third party located outside of China for a variety of reasons. 

1) Johnson Controls is not able to source Absorption Chillers from another Johnson 

Controls plant because it does not have manufacturing facilities outside of China 

that have the equipment necessary to build Absorption Chillers. [ 

]. 

2) Johnson Controls is not able to source Absorption Chillers from a third party 

supplier outside of China because: (i) it increases the total cost of the Absorption 

Chiller and the sales price would need to reflect the third party's profits; and (ii) it 

would require complete re-qualification of the supplier's manufacturing facility and 

component suppliers which would take [ J to complete. 

In addition, Johnson Controls would have to share proprietary designs with such 

third party. This presents a significant risk to securing Johnson Controls' 

intellectual property. Contract manufacturers throughout Asia Pacific are generally 

unable to provide adequate assurances for securing intellectual property. Johnson 

Controls does not believe surrendering its proprietary designs (and competitive 

advantage) is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the Section 301 tariff program. 

III. Additional, Broader Adverse Impacts 

The 25% tariff for these Absorption Chillers significantly impacts Johnson Controls and its 

employees, and creates a competitive disadvantage to Johnson Controls that may lead to 

market share loss in chiller sales. Specifically, the additional duties will result in: 

• potential loss of millions of dollars in sales in the United States; 

• potential loss of chiller sales beyond Absorption Chillers (e.g., Customers of hybrid 

cooling projects require electric centrifugal and absorption chillers and customers want to 

source both chillers from the same company. If Johnson Controls is unable to offer a 

competitive Absorption Chiller due to the 25% tariff, it will likely lose the sale of the 

electric centrifugal chiller as well. [ 

l 

. [ l 

• increase in prices to U.S. customers to reflect the effect of the 25% tariff; and 
PUBLIC VERSION 

• an impact that extends beyond the sales value of the imported Absorption Chillers. 

Johnson Controls has a vast team of U.S. based engineers and technicians 

supporting this product, who would also be impacted by the loss of business 

It is important to note that the outcomes described above will impact Johnson Controls more than 

other similarly situated companies. Many Johnson Controls' competitors manufacture 

Absorption Chillers outside of China, which is not manufacturing JCI has access to. 

Consequently, the additional tariff will have the unintended consequence ofrewarding a 

company that relies heavily on foreign inputs, assembly and manufacturing (in India, for 

example), while punishing a Milwaukee based company that sources its product from a U.S. 

owned entity in China, in large part to protect its Intellectual Property. 

For these reasons, Johnson Controls respectfully requests the USTR to grant this exclusion 

request.