One of Trump’s officials just explained why the penguins in Antarctica got slapped with tariffs

Open the wallet, Pingu!

3 hours ago

The news that President Donald Trump would be slapping a load of eyebrow raising tariffs on US trade partners across the globe obviously ruffled feathers, but I’m not sure the feathers in question were actually intended to be some penguins who might find themselves feeling the pinch. For reasons that are currently deemed inexplicable, Donald Trump and his administration have put reciprocal tariffs on some remote islands in Antarctica that are currently only inhabited by penguins, seals and glaciers. A Trump official has now explained why the uninhabited islands full of penguins actually got the tariffs.

Finally a (sort of) answer

Trump has said on the wild tariffs: “For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered from nations, near and far, from both friend and foe alike.”

“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” he added.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who works for the Trump administration, explained the penguin tariffs (as best her could) when asked about it by Margaret Brennan. Lutnick, laughing off the suggestion this penguin saga was the result of AI, said “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.”

Trump is said to be aware of that loophole and is “sick of it”.

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Lutnick continued: “He’s going to fix that. 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 aluminium.’

“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.”

Not a single human lives on these islands

The most beguiling location hit with the horrendous Trump tariffs has caused the penguins to suffer are the Heard and McDonald Islands in Antarctica. These islands are external areas of Australia, but no humans live there and you can only reach it via a two week voyage by boat from Perth. Not exactly the ocean cruise you might find Jane McDonald partaking in.

“Nowhere on Earth is safe,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday.

What Are reciprocal tariffs?

Reciprocal tariffs are basically when one country slaps a tax or tariff on goods coming from another country, and the second country responds by doing the same. So, if Country A imposes a tariff on goods from Country B, Country B might hit back with a similar tax on imports from Country A. It’s like a “you do it to me, I’ll do it to you” approach to trade.

These tariffs are often used to keep things fair and balanced in trade, especially when one country feels like they’re getting the short end of the stick. But, they can also be a way to put pressure on another country to change its trade practices. The downside? If things get out of hand, it can turn into a full-blown trade war.