US Defends Tariffs on Uninhabited Australian Islands of Heard and McDonald

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The Australian islands inhabited only by penguins had to be hit with tariffs to close potential “ridiculous loopholes”, the US commerce secretary said.

The Heard and McDonald islands are uninhabited and were part of a range of countries and territories that would be subjected to tariffs under.

A 10 per cent tariff will be placed on goods from these islands, a “reciprocal” tariff on the 10 per cent the US believes it pays.

Why did the United States introduce the tariffs on the islands?

Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, defended the tariffs during an interview with US broadcaster CBS, in which he added: “The idea is that there are no countries left off.”

“If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”

What has Australia said about the tariffs?

“The unilateral action that the Trump administration has taken today against every nation in the world does not come as a surprise. For Australia, these tariffs are not expected, but let me be clear — they are totally unwarranted,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week when they were announced.

He added: “Nowhere on earth is safe.”

Where are the Heard and McDonald Islands and how do you get there?

The Heard and McDonald Islands are around 4,100km southwest of Perth and more than 1,500km north of Antarctica.

The islands are populated by seals, penguins, and birds — but not by people.

Australia’s Antarctic Program says to visit Heard Island, you need to travel by boat, with the journey taking around two weeks from Australia.

Well, usually it’s cold, rainy and windy. It does depend where exactly you are on the island, but pretty much anywhere is still cold, rainy and windy.

Australian Antarctic Program

It added: “(Outside of Australian Antarctic Science expeditions) the birds and seals have the place to themselves, except for the very occasional visit by a commercial tourist group, private expedition, or periodic fisheries/defence surveillance patrols.”