The tariff classification, country of origin, and eligibility under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) of a dynamometer

N357964 February 4, 2026 CLA-2-90:OT:RR:NC:N1:105 CATEGORY: Classification TARIFF NO.: 9031.80.8085 Cole Paterson Boron Energy Corp. 321-8188 Manitoba Street Vancouver, BC V5X0L5 Canada RE: The tariff classification, country of origin, and eligibility under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) of a dynamometer Dear Mr. Paterson: In your letter dated January 20, 2026, you requested a ruling on the tariff classification, country of origin for marking purposes, and USMCA eligibility of a dynamometer. The item under consideration is an electric motor dynamometer, which is a specialized testing apparatus designed for the development and evaluation of e-bike mid-drive units (motor, gearbox, and motor controller assembly). The device simulates the forces and resistances encountered during actual riding to enable engineers to assess performance characteristics without extensive road testing. This system is precisely configured with two internal permanent magnet test motors, each coupled to planetary gearboxes. These gearboxes are connected via flexible shaft couplings to two torque transducers, which in turn attach to the device under test (DUT), an e-bike mid-drive unit. One motor replicates human pedaling input, while the second motor provides the load, mimicking hills or headwinds. All components are mounted on a shared extruded aluminum base, secured to a table, and are controlled by dedicated motor controllers (inverters) that manage speed and torque. The motors and DUT share a common electrical connection for power sharing, supplied by a single power supply and protected by fuses and contactors. Additional fans provide cooling for the DUT and motors, and a polycarbonate cover ensures safety over the DUT. The DUT is supported by custom aluminum blocks and bearing housings, with the dynamometer arriving pre-assembled and bolted together for completion upon import. Integrated sensors measure crucial parameters such as torque output, motor speed, power consumption, and efficiency, allowing manufacturers to refine motor design, optimize control algorithms, and verify that the mid-drive unit meets performance and durability standards. Sensors include thermocouples, torque transducers (strain gauges), rotational speed sensors (encoders), voltage sensing (precision resistor divider), and a current sensor (hall-effect based non-contact sensor). Additional internal sensors exist in the motor (resolver, thermistor) and the controller (hall-effect based non-contact sensor, thermistor). The device will measure torque in Newton-Meters (Nm), rotational speed in Rotations Per Minutes (RPM), temperature in degrees Celsius, power in Watts (W), voltage in volts (V), and current in Amps (A). The electric motor dynamometer is a product of extensive global collaboration, with its components sourced from a diverse range of countries including China, the United States, India, Sweden, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Malaysia, Germany, Mexico, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, the Philippines, Poland, and Switzerland. Key components originating from China include transducers, the planetary gearbox, table, DUT holder block, bearing holders, fasteners such as nuts and bolts, the DUT output shaft, power supply, a 50A contactor, fuses, connectors, crimps and crimp tools, and the breakout board. The United States contributes essential parts like spiders for couplings, shaft couplings, 10 mm keys, raw material for the polycarbonate enclosure, nylon strapping, bolts, protection guard doublers, polycarbonate adhesive, fasteners, L brackets, washers, vibration dampers, a board, and a portion of the wiring. Taiwan supplies nuts, bolts, the E-stop button, inverter fans, motor fans, the resistor divider, and various wiring harnesses. India is the source for the Data Acquisition (DAQ) expander and the motors themselves. Germany provides aluminum extrusion, relays, splices, and capacitors, while Canada supplies foam insulation. Italy contributes bolts, and bearings are sourced from either Japan or South Korea. The motor controller is procured from Sweden. Malaysia supplies the amplifier, plugs, receptacles, and crimps. Mexico provides bars, resistors, shunts, and connectors. Additionally, various other small components are sourced from Japan, Belgium, France, the Philippines, Poland, and Switzerland. The dynamometer assembly process, conducted in Canada, comprises approximately twenty-six distinct steps. It commences with the connection of the gearbox and motors to the drive shaft using nuts and bolts, followed by the assembly of the Device Under Test (DUT) enclosure. Subsequently, torque transducers are secured, holes are drilled into the prep support table, and the bearing support is fabricated by pressing the bearing and datum pin into place. The DUT output shaft is then installed onto its support, datum pins are pressed into the DUT holder block, and the DUT support block is affixed to the dynamometer base plate. The process continues with the assembly of the bearing support to the DUT support, the installation of keys onto the DUT output shafts, and the attachment of the coupling to the DUT output shafts. Two keys are then installed onto the torque transducer before it is mounted to the gearbox coupling. Next, the motor and gearbox assembly is integrated by sliding it into the extruded base and securing it with fasteners. This is followed by mounting the motor controllers for heatsinking and the precise cutting and crimping of terminals and wires. The fan is then installed onto the DUT enclosure, which is subsequently mounted onto the base. The final stages involve the installation of the high-current bus distribution bar, fastening the entire assembly to the table with bolts, installing the power supply and DAQ system, and completing the wire harness assembly and routing to achieve full functionality. In your letter, you suggest the applicable subheading of the electric motor dynamometer to be 9031.80.8070, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; profile projectors; parts and accessories thereof: Other instruments, appliances and machines: Other: Equipment for testing the characteristics of internal combustion engines: Other.” We disagree. Since the device that is to be tested by the dynamometer is a mid-drive electric motor and not an internal combustion engine, classification under subheading 9031.80.8070, HTSUS, is excluded. Accordingly, the applicable subheading for the electric motor dynamometer will be 9031.80.8085, HTSUS, which provides for “Measuring or checking instruments, appliances and machines, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; profile projectors; parts and accessories thereof: Other instruments, appliances and machines: Other: Other.” The general rate of duty will be free. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304), provides that unless excepted, every article of foreign origin imported into the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or its container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the United States, the English name of the country of origin of the article. Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. 1304 was “that the ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the product. The evident purpose is to mark the goods so that at the time of purchase the ultimate purchaser may, by knowing where the goods were produced, be able to buy or refuse to buy them, if such marking should influence his will.” See United States v. Friedlander & Co., 27 C.C.P.A. 297, 302 (1940). Section 134.1(b), CBP Regulations (19 CFR 134.1(b)), defines “country of origin” as the country of manufacture, production, or growth of any article of foreign origin entering the United States. Further work or material added to an article in another country must effect a substantial transformation to render such other country the “country of origin” within the meaning of the marking laws and regulations. Pursuant to section 102.0, interim regulations, related to the marking rules, tariff-rate quotas, and other United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provisions, published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2021 (86 FR 35566), the rules set forth in sections 102.1 through 102.18 and 102.20 determine the country of origin for marking purposes with respect to goods imported from Canada and Mexico. Section 102.11 provides a required hierarchy for determining the country of origin of a good for marking purposes, apart from textile and apparel goods which are subject to the provisions of 19 CFR 102.21. See 19 CFR 102.11. Applied in sequential order, 19 CFR 102.11(a) provides that the country of origin of a good is the country in which: (1) The good is wholly obtained or produced; (2) The good is produced exclusively from domestic materials; or (3) Each foreign material incorporated in that good undergoes an applicable change in tariff classification set out in Part 102.20 and satisfies any other applicable requirements of that section, and all other applicable requirements of these rules are satisfied. Since the subject merchandise is neither “wholly obtained or produced” nor “produced exclusively from domestic materials,” paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) cannot be used to determine the country of origin of the electric motor dynamometer, and paragraph (a)(3) must be applied to determine the origin of the finished article. As the electric motor dynamometer is classified under subheading 9031.80.8085, HTSUS, the applicable tariff shift requirement in Part 102.20 for the items under consideration states, in pertinent part: A change to heading 9031.80 from any other heading. The electric motor dynamometer under consideration herein are components from numerous different countries including China, the United States, India, Sweden, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Malaysia, Germany, Mexico, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, the Philippines, Poland, and Switzerland. Each individual item that encompasses the final electric motor dynamometer is classified outside of subheading 9031.80. As a result, the Part 102.20 tariff shift requirement is met. Accordingly, the electric motor dynamometer for country of origin and marking purposes will be Canada. USMCA The USMCA was signed by the Governments of the United States, Mexico, and Canada on November 30, 2018. The USMCA was approved by the U.S. Congress with the enactment on January 29, 2020, of the USMCA Implementation Act, Pub. L. 116-113, 134 Stat. 11, 14 (19 U.S.C. § 4511(a)). General Note (GN) 11 of the HTSUS implements the USMCA. GN 11(b) sets forth the criteria for determining whether a good is an originating good for purposes of the USMCA. GN 11(b) states: For the purposes of this note, a good imported into the customs territory of the United States from the territory of a USMCA country, as defined in subdivision (l) of this note, is eligible for the preferential tariff treatment provided for in the applicable subheading and quantitative limitations set forth in the tariff schedule as a “good originating in the territory of a USMCA country” only if— (i) the good is a good wholly obtained or produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries; (ii) the good is a good produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries, exclusively from originating materials; (iii) the good is a good produced entirely in the territory of one or more USMCA countries using non-originating materials, if the good satisfies all applicable requirements set forth in this note (including the provisions of subdivision (o)); . . . . In reviewing the electric motor dynamometer, neither GN 11(b)(i) or (b)(ii) apply, as it neither is “wholly obtained or produced entirely” in Canada, nor is it “produced entirely in Canada, exclusively from originating materials.” CBP turns to GN 11(b)(iii) to determine whether the electric motor dynamometer is eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA. GN 11(b)(iii) provides that a good is eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA if it is a “good produced in Canada using non-originating materials, if the good satisfies all applicable requirements set forth in this note (including in the provisions of subdivision (o)).” GN 11(o) provides for the applicable tariff shift requirements. For products of subheading 9031.80.8085, GN 11(o) states that the applicable tariff shift is “[a] change to subheading 9031.80 from any other heading.” Each individual item that encompasses the final electric motor dynamometer is classified outside of subheading 9031.80. As a result, each component used to create the fully functional electric motor dynamometer undergoes the appropriate change and the tariff shift requirement is met. Accordingly, the electric motor dynamometer is eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA. The duties cited above are current as of this ruling’s issuance. Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided at https://hts.usitc.gov/. This ruling does not address the applicability of any additional duties, taxes, fees, exactions and/or other charges, which may apply to the goods discussed herein. This includes, but is not limited to, tariffs and other duties as provided for in Subchapter III to Chapter 99, HTSUS. Thus, for example, in addition to the classification stated above, the merchandise covered by this ruling may also need to be reported with either the Chapter 99 provision under which an additional tariff applies or one of the Chapter 99 provisions covering exceptions to such tariffs. For further information to assist with the importation process, please refer to the frequently updated Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) messages at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/automated/cargo-systems-messaging-service and Frequently Asked Questions on the Trade Remedy/IEEPA page at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/trade-remedies/IEEPA-FAQ. The holding set forth above applies only to the specific factual situation and merchandise description as identified in the ruling request. This position is clearly set forth in Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Section 177.9(b)(1). This section states that a ruling letter is issued on the assumption that all of the information furnished in the ruling letter, whether directly, by reference, or by implication, is accurate and complete in every material respect. In the event that the facts are modified in any way, or if the goods do not conform to these facts at time of importation, you should bring this to the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and submit a request for a new ruling in accordance with 19 CFR 177.2. Additionally, we note that the material facts described in the foregoing ruling may be subject to periodic verification by CBP. This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs and Border Protection Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177). A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, please contact National Import Specialist Jason Christie at jason.m.christie@cbp.dhs.gov. Sincerely, (for) Denise Faingar Designated Official Performing the Duties of the Division Director National Commodity Specialist Division