I found a way to get around tariffs that will raise the price of audio equipment.

To the OP question, I'll be practicing the "buy locally" approach. Plenty of excellent nationally made products to choose from. And when not available locally/nationally, I'll only be looking at "friendly" locations/nations. I do not like bullies and will always stand up to them. They always loose.

Name me one bully who has bettered the group of their choosing. Advancement only happens when you have cooperation on a mutual interest.

As for only one side having tariffs, that’s nonsense. The average tariff in the EU on US goods is around 1.97% with the weighted average around 1.34%. The average US tariff on imported goods from anywhere was 1.61% so it was tit for tat and nothing to write home about, until Rump came to town.

In his first term, he cost Americans consumers more than $51 Billion with his tariff games. The cost of bailing out our farmers from his trade war with China was 92% of all the tariffs he put on China. Tariffs we paid, not China. We won nothing. It’s going to cost us a lot more this time. He’s losing approval faster than Tesla stock so now he’s ordering US car companies to pay the tariff taxes that we’d have to pay so we won’t feel the pain. That sounds very Stalinist, doesn’t it? Price controls, favoritism and no free markets.

All the best,
Nonoise

If you get sick, you ain’t enjoying music all that much

Are we allowed to talk about breakfast foods? I don’t think they have much to do with audio though cholesterol issues tend to never help anything. They do say “everything matters” though….

About 3 years ago, some blood work from my doc revealed high ldl. He was about to prescribe statins. But, I said that I’d get back to him for a re-test in some months ...after I do some lifestyle changes.

And i started to wonder...i work out, don’t eat mammals, no diary, quit drinking etc... and what the hell might be going on.

Dropped the eggs and triple filtered the coffee, i.e., there is a item in unfiltered coffee that’s a culprit, etc.

i went back in about 11-ish months and ldl had returned to normal!

My doc was like, "wai wai wai wai wai waiittttt, did you go to some other doctor and get statins?!?!?!" I said, "Noooooo, never cheated on ya, you’re the only one!! I just made some dietary changes"

Long story short, I feel like spring chicken these days and have the ldl of some 19 yr old buck or whatever. I am sure genetics and everything else matters, but, the above mentioned worked out for me.

There does not seem to be any hard and fast evidence, @deep_333 , whether high serum LDL cholesterol can be attributed to diet or not. There does seem to be a definite link to alcohol, tobacco, stress, sedentary life style and obesity. Eggs are not necessarily linked to obesity, and they are an excellent source of a complete protein with only 5 or 6 grams of fat.

It's a good thing you stayed away from the statins. All my life I've had higher than normal LDL levels but everything else was fine. The doctor I had then said not to worry as it was most likely due to genetics and that my other levels compensated for it or they'd be off as well. 

Fast forward to my present doctor and she said I was pre-diabetic and put me on some statins that lowered my levels by over 40 points in one month. The downside was some awful constipation so I stopped cold turkey with the statins and nothing bad came of it. I told my doctor about it and she was fine with it. 

It appears that Big Pharma loves its product and their pill pushers are still doing the lord's work doling out the meds. By the way, I went Vegan years ago and like you, never felt better, dropped 30 pounds and felt like a spring chicken. After a few years I stumbled and had a cheeseburger and it's been rough going ever since. I just may take it up again.

All the best,
Nonoise

@nonoise Here are the real facts so now you know.

All commodities importing into china, need pay the 3 types tariffs:

I. Customs Duty
II. Value-added tax
III. Consumption tax

This just for value added Tax... (There are plenty more.)

All goods imported into China are subject to the nation’s value-added tax (VAT) of either 13 percent or 17 percent. The 13 percent tax is available for certain goods that fall mainly within the categories of agricultural and utility items, while the 17 percent tax applies to other goods subject to the VAT tax.

Go read the real story... (from 2022)

https://www.transcustoms.com/tariff/#:~:text=All%20goods%20imported%20into%20China,subject%20to%20the%20VAT%20tax.

BTW... I’m sure you know that Biden impossed a 100% tariff on Chinese cars just before leaving office. But that was OK. No complaints then.