Trump Slaps Tariffs on Penguin-Inhabited Islands. Commerce Secretary Lutnick Says It’s No Joke.

On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on penguin-inhabited islands near Antarctica as part of his “Liberation Day” levies targeting dozens of foreign countries.

“Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan confronted Lutnick on CBS about the 10% penalties applied to Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, Australian territories that, according to The New York Times, are home to many penguins but no people. The decision has sparked a wave of internet memes mocking the policy.

“When we saw the president stand in the Rose Garden holding up that chart that you helped make, that wasn’t actually tariffs. That was actually confusing to investors, because it was some kind of other formula, and the countries themselves seemed kind of random,” Brennan said. “Like, why are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which don’t export to the United States and are quite literally inhabited by penguins, why do they face a 10% tariff? Did you use AI to generate this?” she asked.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says President Trump put tariffs on the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are inhabited by penguins, to prevent any other countries from using "loopholes" to avoid the tariffs.

"Basically he said, look, I can't let any part of the world be a… pic.twitter.com/dOLVk37Jyq

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 6, 2025

Lutnick laughed.

“No. No, the idea — look, the idea is that there are no countries left off,” he stated. When pressed to explain why the islands were included, Lutnick said, “Because the idea — what happens is, if you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”

Referencing Trump’s first term, Lutnick pointed to China as an example.

“The president put tariffs on China — right? — in 2018, and then what China started doing is they started going through other countries to America,” he said. “They just built through other countries, through America. And so, the president knows that, he’s tired of it, and 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’ — ”

Brennan interjected, saying, “Through the Heard Islands,” as Lutnick continued, explaining how Trump closed “these ridiculous loopholes” in trade relations.

“And now what he’s trying to say is, ‘I’m going to fix the trade deficit of the United States of America,'” Lutnick said. “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 aluminum. 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.”

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