Donald Trump‘s dream of placing tariffs on each and every country in the world has finally come true. He has placed tariffs ranging from 10% to 54% on every country. Major importers like Canada, Britain, and India are placed with a 54% to 25% tariff charge. Other than those specifically mentioned, the base tariff of 10% has been placed.
One would assume that this decision was taken lightly. And that there must have been several cabinet meetings. A proper list of allies and materials resourced was made. Right? Apparently not.
In a rush to place tariffs, Donald Trump has placed 10% on two uninhibited islands, too.
Two uninhabited islands in the southern Indian Ocean are among the places where Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Wednesday. These sit close to Antarctica and have only penguins as their inhabitants.
A problem would arise if the seals and penguins that live on the little landmass were exporting anything to the United States. The Heard and McDonald Islands are located roughly halfway between Australia and South Africa. They were part of Australia earlier, but not now. They have also been imposed with a base tariff of 10%.
Trump administration has put a 10 percent tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands….
which has a population of 0 people and is inhabited only by penguins. pic.twitter.com/oSx7LyU0b3
— MaineWonk (@TheMaineWonk) April 2, 2025
Once this fact became public, the frenzy around the meme material was intense. Because the White House categorized the volcanically active islands as countries, there were humorous internet reactions. It was an amusing fact that they were even on Trump’s so-called “liberation day” list of levies.
It looks like the Liberation Day list of nations was made in a hurry by the intern. A fact even career politicians couldn’t stop laughing at.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is a fellow at the American Immigration Council. He quipped that the tariff targets were discovered by a quick scan of the world’s countries on Wikipedia and not much else.
There are no people in the Heard or McDonald Islands at all. There is no population. We’re going to tax the birds, I suppose? On X, he wrote. “It seems like a White House intern simply created this list without doing any additional research by looking through Wikipedia’s list of nations.”
Donald Trump put a 10% tariff on Heard and McDonald Islands near Antarctica…
Where they don’t have any inhabitants?
What a f’n idiot. pic.twitter.com/OiJgyGdtyM
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) April 2, 2025
It’s time for us to confront the Heard Island and McDonald penguins, who have been exploiting us for far too long. Tom Malinowski, a former congressman from New Jersey, made fun of X.
Rachel Maddow, an MSNBC host, added her two cents later on Wednesday night.
“Those volcanoes, along with the penguins and seals that inhabit them, will never again threaten the American economy by oversupplying us with their low-cost exports of…what?” she smiled. “A whiff of Eau de penguin, cool breezes, fresh air?”
#BREAKING: Legendary #Maddow: “The UNINHABITED and Arctic volcanoes of Heard and McDonald Islands were just slapped by Donald Trump today with a steep 10% #tariff.”😂🤦♀️ pic.twitter.com/8zZAbC0qsX
— Emoluments Clause (@Emolclause) April 3, 2025
The Heard and McDonald Islands are uninhabited. It was confirmed by a spokesman for the Australian Antarctic Division, which oversees them. The Daily Beast had asked the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comments. There has been no immediate reply to a request for comment.
The White House also targeted other commercially unimportant islands to the list. It includes Svalbard in Norway, Réunion Island, a French overseas possession in the Indian Ocean, and Norfolk Island, which is home to roughly 2,000 people in Australia.
