The recent announcement of a new tariff policy by the U.S. Trump administration has been surprising, as it includes Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, two remote and uninhabited outposts in Antarctica inhabited only by penguins and seals, as targets.
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04-14, 2025Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are located 4,000 kilometers southwest of Australia, in an extremely remote location that requires a seven-day boat trip from Perth to reach. Almost no human beings have set foot in this area in the past decade. In addition to these two islands, other Australian territories, as well as Norway's Svalbard, the Falkland Islands, and the British Indian Ocean Territory, are also affected by the new tariffs.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, "This just goes to show that nowhere on Earth is immune." Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Christmas Island, like the rest of Australia, now face a 10% tariff. Norfolk Island, also an Australian territory with a population of about 2,200, is subject to a 29% tariff.
Mike Coffin of the University of Tasmania, who has traveled to the area seven times for scientific research, expressed doubt about the possibility of the island conducting large-scale exports to the United States. "There's nothing there," he told the BBC. To his knowledge, only two Australian companies catch and export Patagonian toothfish and cod.
Professor Coffin also stated that these islands possess unique and spectacular natural landscapes. Designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, they are rare examples of ecosystems unaffected by external plants, animals, or humans. "They are home to a large number of penguins, elephant seals, and various seabirds," said Professor Coffin, who primarily studies the underwater geography of these islands. He also recalled observing from a distance what he thought was a beach, but "it turned out to be hundreds of thousands of penguins."
While it is difficult to clearly understand the trade relationship between Heard Island and the McDonald Islands and the United States, World Bank export data shows that these islands have typically exported small quantities of products to the United States in the past few years. However, in 2022, the United States imported $1.4 million (approximately AUD 2.23 million) worth of products from the region, almost all of which were unnamed "mechanical and electrical" products.
As with many governments around the world, this tariff policy has also frustrated Australian leaders, with Albanese stating that the tariffs are "completely unnecessary" and "not the act of a friend."
