What made Trump put tariffs on Penguins' island? His commerce secy answers

US Commerce Secretary asserts that leaving out a country will leave "loopholes" for other nations to manipulate it

What did the Penguins do to deserve tariffs? Well, nothing!

 

But then there must be something that prompted the US President Donald Trump to impose 10 per cent tariffs on the Heard Island and McDonald Islands, known for being home to only penguins, seals, and seabirds.

 

In a recent interview to CBS News, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained the rationale: “To prevent any other countries from using ‘loopholes’ to avoid the tariffs”.   

Responding to a query by CBS News’ Margaret Brennan, Lutnick claimed that some countries, like China, tried to do this in 2018. The idea is that there are no countries left off, he said.  “These ridiculous loopholes! And now what he’s [Trump] trying to say is, I’m going to fix the trade deficit of the United States of America. It’s a national security issue,” Lutnick said. 

 

Heard Island and McDonald Islands in the Indian Ocean is an external territory belonging to Australia, located roughly 4,100 km to the south-west of Perth, and 1,600 km to the north of the Antarctic coast. 

For context, last week, Trump announced a slew of reciprocal tariffs on nations across the world aiming to boost the American economy. Amid those tariffs, there were some unusual names, like Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Multiple reports suggest that ‘no human’ has set foot on the place in nearly a decade. Moreover, it is only accessible via a seven-day boat trip from Perth. 

‘Nowhere on Earth is safe’ 

Apart from Heard Island and McDonald Islands, there are some other unusual places that have attracted Trump’s tariffs. Some of these external Australian territories include Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island.

 

Norfolk Island, with a population of less than 2,200 people, has been slapped with 29 per cent tariffs, which is around 19 per cent higher than the rest of Australia.

 

What do they pay it on? 

According to the data by the Observatory of Economic Complexity, according to a report by The Guardian, Norfolk Island exported $655,000 worth of goods to the US, with its main export being US $413,000 worth of leather footwear.

 

However, George Plant, the island’s administrator doesn’t agree with the data, stating, “There are no known exports from Norfolk Island to the United States and no tariffs or known non-tariff trade barriers on goods coming to Norfolk Island.”

 

Reacting to the tariffs, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that he is not quite sure if Norfolk Island 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,” Albanese said.

 

Another unusual place to attract tariffs is the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). It is home to Diego Garcia, an island used by over 3,000 US and British military personnel as a base, with no civilian population.