Trump's Tariff Eye Doesn't Spare The Penguins Of Antarctica

Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that the US would apply reciprocal tariffs to several countries and this list included the uninhabited Antarctic islands.

Trump has placed tariffs on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands near Antarctica, along with other isolated Australian territories, such as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Norfolk Island, as per a report by the Guardian.

The US President displayed a poster during a press conference listing the nations and territories impacted by the new tariffs.

The Heard and McDonald Islands presently impose a 10% "tariff to the USA," according to the press statement. 

Several of Australia's "external territories," including Heard Island and McDonald Islands, are individually classified in the tariff list to Australia, which will apply a 10% duty on its imports.

The 2,188-person Norfolk Island, located 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) northeast of Sydney, was hit hard with a tariff of 29%, which is 19 percentage points higher than the national average.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands export numbers are considerably more confusing. The area contains a fishery but no buildings or people live there.

However, the World Bank's export statistics show that in 2022, the United States bought US$1.4 million (A$2.23 million) worth of goods from the Heard Island and McDonald Islands, almost entirely in the form of "machinery and electrical" imports.

"Nowhere on earth is safe," stated Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday.

He added, "Norfolk Island has got a 29% tariff. I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States, but that just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on earth is safe from this."