Exporter’s Own Advertising Shows Its Goods Are Step Bars, Not Protective Gear, US Says

A vehicle accessories exporter's products are “steps bars,” as demonstrated by their usual industry use, designs and marketing, not “side protective attachments,” as the exporter claims, the government said Feb. 16 at the Court of International Trade (Keystone Automotive Operations v. U.S., CIT # 21-00215).

In a cross-motion for summary judgment filed Feb. 16, the U.S. argued that exporter Keystone Automotive Operations’ side bars had been correctly classified by CBP. In the brief, the government referred to the products only as “step bars,” in contrast to the exporter, who in its own filing called them “side bars, nerf bars and bars … attached to motor vehicles that both protect the side of the vehicle to which they are attached and serve as a step-up into the vehicle” (see 2312080051).

Normally, all motor vehicle accessories from China are covered by a 25% Section 301 tariff. However, “[t]ire carrier attachments, roof racks, fender liners, [and] side protective attachments” are exempt.

Keystone’s products are not “side protective attachments” and not eligible for the exemption, the government argued in its brief. Instead, they are solely step bars, it said.

“The undisputed facts show that all of Keystone’s imported products consist of rubberized plastic steps mounted on steel bars that attach to the sides of vehicles and whose primary function and use are assisting an individual in entering and exiting a high road clearance vehicle by stepping on the step pads,” DOJ said.

Nerf bars and running boards, DOJ said, are commonly described as “step bars,” a “stepping surface” or “truck step options” for tall vehicles. It cited a website run by automobile retailer Aries Automotive that described the difference between side bars and running boards and described side bars’ primary function as “to provide a stepping surface into the vehicle.”

Meanwhile, side bars without steps “involve ‘a totally different design’ and are ‘more for rock crawling and aggressive or more aggressive applications’ as compared to the step bars imported by Keystone,” DOJ said.

It also argued that Keystone’s websites advertise its products as primarily “slip resistant stepping entry and exit points.” Some have maximum weight capacities, it said. Some are described as providing “moderate protection against road hazards and debris,” it added. Keystone’s importer’s website, it also said, sells Keystone’s products not in its “Vehicle Protection” subcategory but in its “Nerf Bars & steps” subcategory.

Also, the government said, a majority of the posts Keystone made to its Facebook page between 2023 and 2024 to demonstrate its products described them as “steps, step bars, step boards, or side steps.”