TPT September 2019

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

The USA is the world’s largest export market for Scotch whisky by value – around $1.3 billion in 2018. By volume, it is the second largest, with 137 million 70cl bottles exported last year. A spokesperson for the Scotch Whisky Association told the BBC: “Exports of Scotch whisky to the US have been zero tariff for 20 years, so it is disappointing that Scotch whisky has been drawn into this dispute. “The Scotch whisky industry has consistently opposed the imposition of tariffs, which harms economies on both sides of the Atlantic who depend on trade for their continued prosperity. “There is a close relationship between the US whiskeys and Scotch whisky, not least due to the use of bourbon casks for maturation which generates around £70m for the US economy each year. We continue to urge the UK government, the EU and the US government to resolve this situation.” Scotch whisky makes up 12 per cent of the total whisky market in the United States, with US whiskey accounting for 48 per cent. Negative impact The Distilled Spirits Council of the US warned that the move could harm both jobs and consumers in the country. The group’s spokeswoman, Lisa Hawkins, commented: ”We strongly oppose the inclusion of distilled products in the proposed retaliation list. US companies – from farmers to suppliers to retailers – are already being negatively impacted by the imposition of retaliatory tariffs by key trading partners on certain US distilled spirits. What to do with those empty bottles Located on the island of Bocas del Toro, a village consisting of homes, a castle, an educational centre and a museum has been built using discarded plastic waste, and mostly plastic bottles. Engineering 360 carried the story of environmentalist Robert Bezeau’s Plastic Bottle Village in Panama. Metal cages are packed with plastic bottles and the cages are welded together with steel rebar. The cage structures are then covered entirely in concrete. A 100m 2 home will use up to 16,000 plastic bottles, said to be nearly equal to the number of plastic bottles an average individual might use in their lifetime. The village structures are said to be earthquake resistant; components can float in the event of flooding; and the bottles have an insulating effect, keeping the indoor temperatures 35°F cooler than outside. Homes in the village are available for purchase, starting at just under $20,000 each, and homes and the castle are available to rent from $90 a night. “These additional tariffs will only inflict further harm.”

technological innovations in the areas up to Levels 1 and 2 have been initiated by efforts to meet the social demand for improving driving safety and assisting the elderly and drivers with physical disabilities. This scenario is hardly the case when it comes to autonomous driving at Level 3 and above. There are few people who would rather let the car do all the steering, accelerating and braking so that they can sit in the driver’s seat playing a game on a smartphone, reading a book, chatting with a co-passenger or napping. Furthermore, nobody would feel at ease with sleeping in a fully autonomous vehicle unless the self-driving system has built up an accident- free safety record over many years. However, the general consensus among the mass media seems to be that Level 4 automatic vehicles will be put on the market by 2025 at the latest. “In my opinion,” writes Takamitsu Sawa, “autonomous vehicles of Level 3 and above are not demand-driven innovations but, rather, technology-push innovations. A big artificial intelligence boom has been created since the turn of the century. Through the application of AI, Google and other IT companies launched the development of software for autonomous driving, kicking off movement toward high-level autonomous driving. Presumably, these companies want to achieve total control of the fundamental software for a fully autonomous driving system, just as Microsoft’s Windows has dominated the operating system for personal computers and Google’s Android has monopolised the operating system for smartphones.” To forestall such an eventuality, automakers in the past several years have invested heavily in the development of autonomous vehicles and pushed collaboration with other members of the auto industry and IT firms. It also can be said that, at present, a war of aggression is being waged by members of the IT industry with the intention of placing the auto industry under their control. “Be that as it may,” concludes Takamitsu Sawa, “I don’t believe that there will be many people willing to spend large amounts of money on autonomous cars of Level 3 and above; products of technology-push innovation rather than consumer demand.” Scotch whisky becomes a tariff target Scotch whisky is among the products targeted by the US for a possible range of new tariffs on imported goods. The UK’s BBC reported US threats to impose tariffs on European Union imports worth up to $4bn, although it is not known when tariffs would be imposed. Irish whiskey, Parmesan and Gouda cheese, pasta and olives are among the regional specialities likely to be affected. A US trade representative described the move as “in response to harm caused by EU aircraft subsidies” and is in addition to the US announcement in April of proposed tariffs on $11bn of EU goods. The tariffs are part of a 15-year dispute between the USA and EU at the World Trade Organization over subsidies given to aeroplane manufacturers Airbus, from Europe, and Boeing, from the USA.

Gill Watson Features Editor (Europe)

87

www.read-tpt.com

SEPTEMBER 2019