Chinese DAC's

For those who skipped Econ 101 or took it before about 1990, we now live in an inextricably interconnected world of global supply chains. The finished component relies on parts from several global sources, and those parts, semiconductors and, yes, tubes, rely on another set of supply chains for the machinery to fabricate the components and a second supply chain for the silicon, tungsten, and rare earths necessary for their fabrication. Those sources in turn rely on the manufacturers of extractive mining equipment who rely on ... and on and on it goes. Those heady 19th century days when technology amounted to coal, iron, brass and wood, and economic self-sufficiency was a possibility are long gone and so is any relevance of tariffs based on that kind of economic theory. Driving with the rear-view mirror it's called. Not surprisingly, it ends up in a crash. 

@vinylvalet @fthompson251 @nonoise Thank you. My realization of global supply chains began with a 1984 VW Jetta, engine and transmission made in Germany, tires from Brazil, Glass from the US, stereo from Japan, wheels from Italy and body built and assembled in Mexico. I made a bumper sticker for it that said, 'Made on Earth / By Humans'. Nothing much has happened in the last 40 years to change that view, except the rise in Intellectual Property as a factor in value resulting in the concept of value chains, where the metric changes from material value to intellectual value added. Audio provides any number of perfect examples of that. Anybody with a table saw and a Parts Express catalog (no offense, I actually like them) can get into the speaker business. But not just anybody can build a KEF, or a Sonus Faber, or a Wilson. Anybody can buy ESS Sabre DAC chips, case and power supply, but executing the software for the filters is a whole 'nother level of value add. Building big flat panel TVs, which the US has zero manufacturing capacity, would require licensing a ton of IP (if it were even offered) on the process of making zero-defect screens. So worse than the obsolete concept of material tariffs, the ignorance of the equally or more important value chains make these trade restrictions poorly conceived and a failure before they even begin. We gave away manufacturing decades ago, and it's not coming back, except perhaps as automated factories. We are world leaders in lots of IP areas, in medicine, biotechnology, and computers (where is nVidias real value? Their IP portfolio). Failing to invest in and protect that will truly be the loss of our last, best chance.