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The trade confrontation between the Donald Trump administration and the rest of the world has even affected those who have nothing to do with geopolitics – penguins. Thus, the uninhabited Antarctic islands of Gaird and McDonald were included in the list of more than 180 countries and territories on which the US imposed new duties.
The information caused a wave of memes and bewilderment, but Washington found an explanation. In an interview with CBS, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Latnick said that even isolated territories could become a “workaround” for those countries trying to avoid tariffs.
“If we leave something off the list, countries trying to make money off America will find a way to get to us through these territories. China already used this approach in 2018,” Latnik said.
The uninhabited volcanic islands, covered in ice and inhabited exclusively by penguins, have not seen a human for almost a decade. Their imposition of a 10% duty has become a source of irony on American talk shows.
“A duty on an island with only penguins? Trump would have been better off taxing the island where Tom Hanks is stuck,” joked the host of The Daily Show.
Social media also reported that the list of countries was created using artificial intelligence, which Latnik denied, although he admitted that not all countries were included in the list – in particular, Russia, Belarus and the DPRK were left without new tariffs.
