Importer Fights to Rid Fuel Pump Mounts of Section 301 Duties at CIT

Importer Guangdong Hongteo Technology Co. filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade, contesting what is the proper classification for its aluminum fuel pump mounts. Hongteo is seeking a more favorable HTS subheading that would lower the duty rate for the mounts and remove the Section 301 China tariff liability from the imports. The entries, in particular, are "six components made chiefly of aluminum, used to mount fuel pumps onto certain automotive spark-ignition internal combustion piston engines" (Guangdong Hongteo Technology Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #20-03776).

The entries were liquidated under HTS subheading 8409.91.5085, which provides for "parts ... suitable for use solely or principally with spark-ignition internal combustion piston engines (including rotary engines)," dutiable at 2.5%. This subheading is under the List 3 Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, subjecting them to an additional 10% tariff due to the time at which the mounts were imported.

Hongteo, however, argues that the mounts should properly be classified under HTS subheading 8302.30.3060, which provides for "Other mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for motor vehicles," among other things, dutiable at 2%, but free of Section 301 liability due to an exclusion offered by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In case the importer fails to achieve this subheading via litigation, it lists two other HTS subheadings that could alternatively serve as a better home for the mounts. The headings are 8413.91.9080 and 8413.91.9095, both free of duty and the Section 301 duties.