President Donald Trump's commercial activities hit respective mostly uninhabited places that conduct a tiny trade with anyone. Full list of 185 locations covered on Wednesday at least 10 percent. the customs tariff includes Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Australian territories in the vast Indian Ocean between Africa and Antarctica.
The American list besides included a baby Norfolk Island in the South Pacific and an uninhabited place in the Arctic Ocean called Jan Mayen, part of Norwegian territory from islands of Svalbard close the North Pole.
"I'm not rather sure"
All of this has led to people's heads scratching all over the world, while leaders proceed to digest Trump's efforts to punish the countries that he believes utilized US trade policy to bargain American jobs. But is that surely the real reason for the start of the customs war?
“ I am not entirely certain that Norfolk Island is simply a competitor in trade with the giant economy of the United States, but it only shows and illustrates the fact that no place in the planet is an exception, ” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The presence of specified incomprehensible sites may undermine Trump's argument that another countries have utilized the United States and should be punished as a result. When asked about this issue, the White home told POLITICO that Norfolk, as well as the Heard and McDonald Islands, were listed due to the fact that they are Australian territories.
PAP/EP/DENT NISHIMURA / POOL / PAPU.S. president Donald Trump signs the executive regulation erstwhile announcing tariffs at the Rose Garden of the White home in Washington, USA, on 2 April 2025.
10-percent duties for penguins
Nevertheless, the White home list has put many people into dismay — and has thrown themselves on the net in search of answers. It included, among others, the British Indian Ocean Territory, a collection in most uninhabited islands without a permanent population — with the exception of a common U.S. and UK military base on Diego Garcia Island.
Svalbard has a population of little than 3,000, and Jan Mayen is uninhabited — but for 18 people working there temporarily for Norwegian military and meteorological services. Similarly, the island Tokelau In the vicinity of fresh Zealand, little than 2,000 people will besides be covered by tariffs.
But Literally no 1 on the Isles of Heard and McDonald will feel the effect — due to the fact that there is no 1 there. Both are considered uninhabited, are home to a large population of penguins and have been designated by the Australian government as “one of the least anthropogenically disrupted areas in the world”. Nevertheless, a minimum punishment of 10% was imposed on both of them.
"A country no 1 has always heard of". Russia outside the U.S. list
The country that received the strictest duties, Lesotho, is simply a country that “no 1 has always heard of”, according to Donald Trump himself. The list of the White home says that this African kingdom without access to the sea has its own tariffs of 99 percent — and will so be subject to a 50-percent US penalty.
According to this list, another place in the planet was covered by 50-percent. customs duties by the United States — The Saint Pierre and Miquelon Territorial Community of France in the Atlantic Ocean, with an estimated 5500 inhabitants. For comparison, the full European Union was subject to 20 % duties, China 34% and the UK and Ukraine 10%. Russia is the most crucial country not present on the list, as White home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt explained on the Axios portal, stating that Putin's country had already been punished with sanctions related to the attack on Ukraine.
