Trump tariffs hit penguin-only Antarctic Islands

In a bizarre twist to Donald Trump’s trade war, the U.S. has slapped a 10% tariff on goods from Heard Island and McDonald Islands, two remote, uninhabited volcanic specks near Antarctica that are home only to penguins and glaciers. These Australian external territories, reachable solely by a grueling two-week boat trip from Perth, haven’t seen human visitors in nearly a decade, yet they landed on a White House list of “countries” targeted with new trade penalties, as reported by The Guardian. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quipped, “Nowhere on earth is safe,” highlighting the absurdity of penalizing such desolate outposts alongside other Australian territories like the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island, a populated territory 1,600 kilometers northeast of Sydney with 2,188 residents, got hit even harder with a 29% tariff, far steeper than the 10% levied on mainland Australia. Official data from 2023 claims Norfolk exported $655,000 worth of goods to the U.S., mostly leather footwear, but its administrator, George Plant, called that nonsense, telling The Guardian there are “no known exports” to the U.S. from the island. Meanwhile, Heard and McDonald Islands’ supposed trade stats are downright baffling. World Bank figures suggest the U.S. imported $1.4 million in “machinery and electrical” products from these barren rocks in 2022, a leap from the $15,000 to $325,000 range of prior years, numbers that defy explanation given the lack of human activity or infrastructure beyond a fishery.

Albanese seized on the Norfolk example to underscore the tariffs’ overreach, questioning how a tiny island poses a trade threat to the U.S. economy. The White House list treats Australia’s external territories, non self governing extensions of the nation, as separate entities, a move that’s left officials scratching their heads. Requests for clarity went out to the White House, Australia’s foreign affairs department, and the Australian Antarctic Division, but for now, the idea of penguin-populated islands caught in a trade spat remains a head scratcher.