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 Document I 

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

This exclusion request is for a Tailgate wire harness. The product is used by automotive manufacturers in 

the production of motor vehicles in U.S. vehicle assembly plants. The product distributes power to the 

tailgate operation functions. The length of the wire harness is 2285 mm. The material composition of the 

product consists of insulated wire, connectors, terminals, tape, and conduit. The product is packed in 

cardboard boxes, which are then placed on pallets for shipping. The description of the product is printed 

on the commercial invoice. Each wire harness also has an identifying part number permanent tag 

installed at the manufacturing plant. 

3. IO-digit HTS US 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/ 

8544300000 

4. Requestor Information 

Requestor Name (Last, First): !Gardon, Steven 

;:· ==================================================::::::: Organization Name: !Kyungshin - Lear Sales and Engineering LLC 

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

Requestor Representative: !._D_a_v_id_H_a_m_i_ll.._, _A_re_n_t_F_o_x_L_L_P _______________ __,, 

5. Requestor's relationship to the product: ~II_m~p_o_rt_e_r _________________ ~ 

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

IYES 

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 Document 

VERSION 1 CONTINUED BELOW 1 
8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?: 

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 

purchased by your firm (or by members of your trade association) alone. Please provide 

estimates if precise figures are unavailable. 

2017Value: * 

2016 Value: * 

2015 Value: * 

2017 Quantity: * 

2016 Quantity: * 

2015 Quantity: * 

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). 

See attached for arguments in support of this exclusion request. 

* This is a new product that was not historically imported, but will be imported in the upcoming 

months due to previously planned production. 

VERSION 1 END 2 
,"k:J KyungshinLear 

October 6, 2018 

VIA REGULATIONS.GOV 

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer 

U.S. Trade Representative 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 

600 I 7th Street, NW, Room FS 16 

Washington, D.C., 20006 

Kyungshin-Lear 

Sales & Engineering, LLC 

100 Smothers Road, 

Montgomery, AL 36117 

PUBLIC DOCUMENT 

Docket No. USTR-20 l 8-0025 

Re: Request for Exclusion of Automotive Wzre Harnesses under HTSUS 8544.30.0000 from the 

Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301 

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer: 

Kyungshin - Lear Sales and Engineering LLC ("Kyungshin") respectfully submits this 

request for exclusion of automotive wire harnesses from the determination of action pursuant to 

Section 30 l of the Trade Act of 1974. 1 Kyungshin is a joint venture owned by Kyungshin America 

Corporation and Lear Corporation. Both companies are automotive wire harness manufacturers. The 

joint venture is for the manufacture, distribution and sale of wire harnesses to US motor vehic"le 

manufacturers. 

1 19U.S.C. §2411. 
This exclusion request addresses automotive wire harnesses classified under HTSUS 

subheading 8544.30.0000, which are currently subject to the 25% additional Section 301 tariff. The 

wire harnesses are manufactured by Qingdao Kyungshin Electric Co., Ltd., at its plant in Shandong, 

China. Automotive wire harnesses are the electrical wiring system for motor vehicles. They 

distribute electricity throughout the vehicle to perfonn different functions. Numerous wire harnesses 

connect to form the complete vehicle wire harness system of the vehicle. An example of a specific 

harness would be the front driver side door wire harness, which controls all the electrical functions in 

the door, such as the power window, locks and mirror. All automotive wire harnesses are designed 

and manufactured for a specific customer vehicle and function withjn the vehicle. 

Please note that a separate Section 30 I Investigation Form to Request Exclusion of Product 

has been submitted for each unique product for which we are requesting an exclusion. ln 

accordance with the procedures released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative 

("USTR"),

2 Kyungshin also provides the following information requested by the USTR in support of 

this request. 

2 Procedures To Consider Requests for Exclusion of Particular Products From the Determination of 

Action Pursuant to Section 30 I: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation, 83 Fed. Reg. 32, 18 1 (USTR July 11, 2018). 

2 
I.. AvaiJability of the product outside of China, i.e. whether the particular product and/or 

a comparable product is available from sources in the United States and/or in third 

countries 

Production for Kyungshin's US customers is currently being moved from China to 

Kyungshin's plants in Mexico and Honduras. Although wire harnesses are available from countries 

other than China, Kyungshin is seeking this request because of the transition time involved as will be 

explained below. 

The plants are required to undergo a customer certification process which typically takes 

many months to complete. The Kyungshin plants have received the customer certification already as 

the move in production was started well before the 301 tariffs were announced. Jt is anticipated the 

relocation of wire harness production will be completed by the end of 2018. The exemption is being 

requested for the imports of wire harnesses that were subject to the 30 I tariffs during this transition 

period from July 6, 2018 until the transition to the other plants is completed. As there is no US 

production of automotive wire harnesses used in motor vehicles manufactured in the US, all our 

major competitors also import wire harnesses from China and other countries. 

As noted above, it is anticipated that the transfer of production from China to the other 

Kyungshin plants wi II be completed by the end of 2018. Therefore, the exclusion requests filed by 

Kyungshin would cover the Section 301 tariffs assessed on imports made from July 6, 2018 until the 

transition to the other plants is completed sometime near the end of 20 18. 

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2.. Whether the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause 

severe economic harm to the requester or other US interests 

Once imported, the wire harnesses are shipped to the customer's US vehicle assembly plant 

to be incorporated into the vehicle during final assembly. The wire harnesses are used to distribute 

electricity throughout the motor vehicle to various functions such as the vehicle tailgate. The 

customers are the US motor vehicle manufacturers. 

Because US vehicle manufacturers have no domestic sources for wire harnesses, the 

availability of imported wire harnesses, including imports from China, is necessary to support the 

downstream manufacturing of vehicles in the US. The imposition of the 25% duties would have a 

severe negative impact on CS vehicle production and most likely lead to increases in vehicle costs to 

US consumers. China is a major source of automotive wire harnesses and switching to suppliers that 

are located in other countries is a process that cannot happen overnight and in fact can take many 

months. Using our company as an example, even though we made tlhe decision to transfer production 

of wire harnesses to Mexico and Honduras before the imposition of the tariffs, without an exclusion, 

we will we still will be faced with approximately six months of additional 25% duties on our wire 

harness imports from China. 

This negative impact to our company over the long term wil1 be mitigated by switching 

production from China to Mexico and Honduras. Nevertheless, given the volume of imports, there 

will be a severe short term economic impact on Kyungshin and our customers during the transition of 

production from China that will likely be passed on to US consumers. 

4 
Given that US interests are supported by actions such as the transition that is being 

undertaken by Kyungshin, we also believe granting this limited exclusion request would be 

consistent with promoting such US interests. 

3.. Whether the particular product is strategically important or related to "Made in China 

2025" or other Chinese industrial programs 

Automotive wire harnesses are not products on the Made in China 2025 list. The harnesses 

are not a high technology product. They are used to distribute electricity throughout the vehicle to 

specific functions, such as the tailgate or the backup warning sensor. The harnesses are manufactured 

for specific end customers, who are US motor vehicle manufacturers. There are not any US patents 

or trademarks on the harnesses produced by Kyungshin. The intellectual property rights have not and 

were not required to be transferred to the Chinese producer. There was no such requirement to 

transfer the intellectual property rights in order to manufacture the wire harnesses in China. 

We appreciate the Department's consideration of this exclusion request. Please contact the 

undersigned if you have any questions regarding this submission. 

*********** 

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l hereby certify that the information provided is complete and correct to the best of my 

knowledge. 

6 

Respectfully submitted, 

Steven Gardon 

Authorized Representative 

Kyungshin - Lear Sales and Engineering LLC 

VP Global Indirect Taxes & Customs 

Lear Corporation