The absurd reason that President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on three islands populated only by penguins has been revealed.
The administration slapped Norfolk Island (population 2,000) with 29 percent tariffs and Heard (population 0) and McDonald (population 0) islands with 10 percent tariffs as part of its near-universal tariffs war. All of them are owned by Australia.
But Trump’s officials simply accepted data from obviously mis-labeled trade statistics, according to the Guardian.
Norfolk Island is known in official recording statistics as NI. Official records for shipments of goods such as aquarium systems, Timberland boots, wine, and parts for a recycling plant over the past five years were marked NI in error instead of coming from other places such as Norfolk, a county in the United Kingdom and even from New Hampshire (NH)—a place rather obviously inside the United States.
Trump announced new levies on Wednesday afternoon, targeting more than 180 countries and resulting in the stock market’s worst single-day performance since the COVID pandemic.
Government data presented by the Observatory of Economic Complexity indicates that, in 2023, Norfolk Island exported goods worth $655,000 to the United States, though George Plant, the island’s administrator, told the newspaper on Thursday that there are “no known exports” from the territory to the U.S.
In 2022, the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands reportedly exported goods valued at $1.4 million to the U.S., predominantly categorized under “machinery and electrical.” The Guardian said it identified multiple bills on “lading”—legal documents between a shipper and a carrier outlining what is being shipped—that suggested these exports originated from the territories. In fact, they were largely imports from Europe to the U.S. Documents recorded the shipper’s address as coming from Heard Island and McDonald Island instead of countries of origin such as Germany or Austria.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Australian trade minister Don Farrell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Trump’s tariffs on the territories were “clearly a mistake”.
“Poor old penguins, I don’t know what they did to Trump, but, look, I think it’s an indication, to be honest with you, that this was a rushed process,” he said.
“It’s an indication that this was a rushed process,” Farrell continued. “The trade system that America has until yesterday been working on had been built up since the second world war. In the space of four weeks, the American president has upended that process. So I think it was inevitable that mistakes would be made and particularly including Norfolk Island as [a] 29 percent tariff.”
He said the matter would be raised with the Trump administration.
