An official has provided an unusual explanation for why Trump’s tariffs have been imposed on Arctic islands that are only home to penguins.
Last week, Donald Trump unveiled a range of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ affecting about 60 countries worldwide as part of his effort to ‘Make America Wealthy Again.’
The President expressed that the United States has been at a disadvantage in trade for decades. On ‘Liberation Day’ (April 2), he announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on many foreign goods entering the country, effective over the weekend.
Some regions were subjected to higher tariffs, including the EU (20 percent), China (54 percent), Japan (24 percent), and Thailand (36 percent), with these rates set to take effect on April 9.
Trump declared: “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations, both near and far, whether they are allies or adversaries.”
He continued, “It’s our declaration of economic independence.”
Interestingly, not just human-occupied regions are affected by these tariffs. The president also announced tariffs on remote islands inhabited solely by animals.
Specifically, a 10 percent tariff has been implemented on Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, an Australian territory in the Antarctic where only penguins and seals reside.
This sparked curiosity about how imposing tariffs on penguins would contribute to the U.S.’s independence from foreign goods.
As one person humorously remarked on social media: “Those penguins have been mooching off the US for long enough. Their reign of terror has come to an end.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick addressed these plans on Face the Nation on Sunday (April 6).
Host Margaret Brennan noted the seeming randomness of targeting the Heard and McDonald islands, which do not export to the US and are “quite literally inhabited by penguins,” with tariffs.
She questioned the Trump official on the rationale for imposing a 10 percent tariff on these islands, asking if AI was used to generate the decision.
Lutnick dismissed the notion, explaining: “No. What happens is if you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us. Any country.
“Like we had tariffs, the president put tariffs on China right, in 2018, and then what China started doing is they started going through other countries to America.”
Lutnick stated that Trump is aware of this loophole and is determined to address it.
“He’s going to fix that,” Lutnick continued. “So basically he said look, I can’t let any part of the world be a place where China or other countries can ship through them, so he ended those loopholes, 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. 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 and he’s tired of getting ripped off by the rest of the world.”
Nevertheless, critics remain skeptical. One Twitter user commented: “[Lutnick] really hit the Sunday circuit like, ‘We had to hit the penguins with tariffs… just in case.’ Sir. Be serious. Nobody’s smuggling microchips through Antarctica. Ain’t no penguin cartel laundering goods through the McDonald Islands.”
Another remarked, “They screwed up and are definitely trying to style it out.”
A third pointed out: “Then I notice Mars is conspicuously absent from the list.”