Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have created havoc around the world. Global markets have crashed, wiping off trillions, and warning of recession has led to panic and chaos. Meanwhile, there’s one more thing that people are still unable to wrap their heads around—imposing a tariff on a group of uninhabited islands, which are populated only by penguins and seals.
Trump introduced a baseline tariff of 10% on nearly every country with immediate effect. Some countries even witnessed up to 49% hike in tariffs. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “April 2, 2025, will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history,” as Trump proclaimed it as ‘Liberation Day’.
Heard and McDonald Islands, an Australian territory, was slapped with a 10% tariff even though it has no human population or trade with the US. The announcement gained immediate attention and initiated a flood of memes.
However, the US has now offered an explanation for introducing tariffs on an island where only the penguins live. Howard Lutnick, the US Commerce Secretary, explained that the tariffs on Heard and McDonald islands were meant to close “ridiculous loopholes.”
The CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ anchor bluntly asked him, “Why are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which don’t export to the United States and are quite literally inhabited by penguins, why do they face a 10% tariff? Did you use AI to generate this?”
Lutnick denied the use of AI and said, “No. No, the idea—look, the idea is that there are no countries left off.” He mentioned that the thoughtful decision would prevent other countries from shipping through the islands to reach the US at zero tariffs.
Lutnick said, “If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”
Praising Trump’s decision, he added, “The President knows that, he’s tired of it, and he’s going to fix that.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says President Trump put tariffs on the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are inhabited by penguins, to prevent any other countries from using “loopholes” to avoid the tariffs.
“Basically he said, look, I can’t let any part of the world be a… pic.twitter.com/dOLVk37Jyq
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 6, 2025
The anchor grilled him again, as it seems next to impossible to reroute the trade through the remote island which is entirely covered in ice. The Commerce Secretary remained firm on his answer as he added, “These ridiculous loopholes. And now what he’s trying to say is, I’m going to fix the trade deficit of the United States of America. It’s a national security issue.”
He laid emphasis on Donald Trump‘s broader mission of making America self-reliant. Lutnick said, “We need to make medicine. We need to make semiconductors. We need to make ships. We need to have steel and aluminum. Come on, we need the greatness of America to actually be built in America.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says “there is no postponing” President Trump’s tariffs, when asked whether Trump is considering postponing implementation to negotiate with countries.
“They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. That is sort of obvious,”… pic.twitter.com/P839oC8OLY
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 6, 2025
He added that Trump is “tired of getting ripped off by the rest of the world.”
Though the explanation behind imposing tariffs on the Heard and McDonald Islands seems fair, people around the globe are criticizing Trump’s trade war. It remains to be seen if the world economy is actually heading into recession.
