US Defends Move to Levy Tariffs on Islands Inhabited by Penguins

The US Commerce Secretary has defended the country’s decision to impose tariffs on a group of uninhabited islands, populated only by penguins and seals.

Howard Lutnick told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the imposition of tariffs on the Heard and McDonald islands were meant to close “ridiculous loopholes” and would prevent other countries from shipping through the islands to reach the US.

Authorities in Australia reacted with surprise last week when they found out about the tariffs on the islands, which sit 4,000 kilometres from Australia.

Its trade minister Don Farrell told news outlet ABC that the imposition of tariffs was “clearly a mistake” indicating a “rushed process”.

But when asked about the inclusion of the Australian territory on Trump’s tariffs list, Lutnick said: “If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”