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 ofBCI I 

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

This exclusion request is for a valve housing, product number El060032482A0. The product measures 

115 mm in height, 105 mm in length, and is made of aluminum. This specific valve housing is a casting 

part with machined surfaces. The valve housing is a part in a high flow exhaust gas recirculation valve 

used in the automotive industry by an Automotive OEM. The pallets and all boxes of the material are 

identified with a label that contains the part number, as is the invoice accompanying the shipment. This 

distinguishes this product from other imported products and facilitates the administration of this 

exclusion by CBP. 

3. IO-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/ 

8481909085 

4. Requestor Information 

Requestor Name (Last, First): !Reyes, Raul 

~:::::::::::::================================::::::: Organization Name: !BorgWarner Emissions Systems 

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

Requestor Representative: !David Hamill, Partner, Arent Fox LLP 

5. Requestor's relationship to the product: ~II_m~p_o_r_te_r __________________ ~ 

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

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 

VERSION 1 CONTINUED BELOW 
END 2

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

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

estimates if precise figures are unavailable.

NO

NO

[ ] [ ] units

* *

* *

* This is a new product that has not historically been imported by our company but will imported in

the upcoming months due to previously planned production.

See attached for arguments in support of this exclusion request.

2017 Value: 

2016 Value: 

2015 Value: 

2017 Quantity: 

2016 Quantity: 

2015 Quantity: 
BorgWarner Inc. World Headquarters 3850 Hamlin Road 

Auburn Hills 

Michigan 48326, USA 

Tel: +1 248-754-0422 

1 

October 6, 2018 

VIA REGULATIONS.GOV PUBLIC VERSION 

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer Docket No. USTR-2018-0025 

U.S. Trade Representative 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 

600 17th Street, NW, Room F516 

Washington, D.C., 20006 

Re: Request for Exclusion of Valve Housings, Board Sensors, and Mechanical Housings 

under HTSUS 8481.90.9085 from the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer: 

BorgWarner Emission Systems respectfully submits this request for exclusion of valve 

housings, board sensors, and mechanical housings from the proposed determination of action 

pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.1

BorgWarner is a global product leader in clean and efficient technology solutions for 

combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles. With manufacturing and technical facilities in 66 

locations in 18 countries, we employ approximately 29,000 people worldwide. BorgWarner has 

evolved from a powertrain supplier to a vehicle propulsion company that is playing a major role 

in creating our vision of a clean, energy-efficient world. 

1

 19 U.S.C. § 2411. 

11! BorgWarner 
PUBLIC VERSION Page 2 

Our company’s origins date back to the 1880s in the United States and we have grown to 

a $9.8 billion publicly-traded company today. BorgWarner’s growth in the last century is the 

result of the expansion of new markets due to public policies that supported international trade. 

As an American company headquartered in the Auburn Hills, Michigan, we employ over 6,300 

people in 16 manufacturing and technical centers in eight states across the nation. 

Our company uses a local-for-local supply chain strategy and we source regionally when 

it is possible. In the U.S. we have a 65% supplier localization rate and our direct material 

purchases total over $1 billion annually, with approximately 700 U.S.-based suppliers. 

Additionally, our main R&D center for the U.S. is in Auburn Hills, Michigan, with four other 

R&D centers in the states of Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, and New York. 

BorgWarner Inc. currently holds over 60% of our intellectual property in the U.S. Since 

2012, BorgWarner has invested 600 new jobs and over $530 million in capital investments in the 

U.S. 

In the last four years, BorgWarner has invested over $9 million in capital investment in 

our plant in Dixon. The expanded production capacity will allow us to optimally supply several 

customers with environmentally friendly technologies, including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) 

coolers, tubes and thermostats—key technologies that help reduce emissions and improve fuel 

economy for passenger cars and on- and off-road commercial diesel vehicles. This has created 

many new jobs, including opportunities in the areas of manufacturing and product engineering, 

supplier quality, supply chain, and technical and quality support for the local economy. Our 

current workforce in this plant alone totals almost 400. 

This exclusion request addresses valve housings, board sensors, and mechanical housings 

classified under HTSUS subheading 8481.90.9085, which are currently subject to the 25% 
PUBLIC VERSION Page 3 

additional Section 301 tariff. Please note that a separate Section 301 Investigation Form to 

Request Exclusion of Products has been submitted for each unique part number for which we are 

requesting an exclusion. 

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

Representative (“USTR”),2 BorgWarner Emission Systems provides the following information 

requested by the USTR in support of this request. 

1. Availability 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 

This product is only available from China due to high volume requirements and tight 

specifications; suppliers in the United States do not have the capability to produce these parts in 

their normal production processes, therefore our company would have to deviate from 

established operations with a high risk of quality erosion. The process to validate a new supplier 

will require extensive testing to validate the product, both for our purposes as well as our OEM 

customers. This testing, depending on the customer requirements, may take up to twelve months 

but no less than nine months to complete. This makes it difficult to meet production level 

requirements. 

More importantly perhaps, as we noted above, there is significant risk involved with the 

quality and delivery aspects of this validation; this risk may cause interruptions that will further 

put our automotive customers at risk of production stoppages. 

2 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 (USTR July 

11, 2018). 
PUBLIC VERSION Page 4 

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

severe economic harm to the requester or other US interests 

The imposition of a 25% tariff on these automotive parts could cause severe economic 

harm to U.S. interests, [ ]. Specifically, 

any future business opportunities involving these products could be directly impacted by the 

price increase caused by the additional tariff. If BorgWarner directly absorbs the cost of the 

increase, our profitability will be damaged, which could hurt our ability to invest in our 

technologies, facilities, and workforce training and development. The added costs could inhibit 

our U.S. facilities’ ability to meet the financial returns expected and limit our ability to grow in 

the United States. 

For certain locations, the added costs resulting from the tariffs could lead to exploration 

of moving U.S. manufacturing locations to a lower cost economy. At the very least, the added 

tariff could limit investment in the United States and efforts to try to win new projects with our 

customers. Any project that is won by the company could be directed to other locations outside 

of the U.S. as a result. This result is directly contradictory to this Administration’s stated 

objective of protecting American jobs. 

[

 ] 
PUBLIC VERSION Page 5 

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

China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs 

The imposition of a 25% ad valorem duty on BorgWarner’s valve housings, board 

sensors, and mechanical housings from China will not impact the Chinese intellectual property 

violations these seek to eliminate. Section 301 tariffs are aimed at specifically targeted products 

that have benefitted from the China’s acts, policies, and practices detailed in the USTR’s Section 

301 Report. Our product at issue here has not been beneficially impacted from China’s 

discriminatory licensing requirements, foreign ownership restrictions, state-funded acquisitions, 

or state-backed hacking operations. Made in China 2025 aims to promote their indigenous 

research and development capabilities. Our valve housings, board sensors, and mechanical 

housings are not a new technology nor does it contribute to China’s priority sectors as a nextgeneration technology. 

The products at issue are not related to any other Chinese industrial programs, including 

"Made in China 2025". Specifically, these products are a lower-technology product that are 

imported to support the production of higher-technology EGR coolers and systems in the United 

States. The product is produced by a supplier in China following exclusively for BorgWarner 

and following our own, unique design. No intellectual property rights have been transferred to 

Chinese producers. 

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

the undersigned if you have any questions regarding this submission. 

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

knowledge. 
PUBLIC VERSION Page 6 

Respectfully submitted, 

___________________ 

Raul Reyes 

1350 Franklin Grove Rd 

Dixon, IL 61021 

rareyes@borgwarner.com 

815 285 6744