Trump tariffs hit uninhabited islands like Heard, McDonald : NPR

The Trump administration’s long list of nations targeted by forthcoming U.S. tariffs includes several territories so remote that they don’t have any permanent human residents.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on all goods imported to the U.S. and steeper “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of its trading partners. The amounts range from 49% for Cambodia, to 34% for China and 20% for the European Union.

The two sets of tariffs — which are due to take effect on Saturday and Wednesday, respectively — have rattled markets at home and abroad, prompted talk of retaliation from various countries and threatened to ignite a global trade war.

They also have drawn attention to several places many people have never heard of before — like the Heard Island and McDonald Islands and Jan Mayen — probably since most of them are unoccupied by humans.

The White House has not immediately responded to NPR’s questions about why the following places are subject to tariffs, especially since the territories don’t have active trade relationships with the U.S.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands 

One prime example is the Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an external Australian territory made up of volcanically active subantarctic islands. They face — at least on paper — what the Trump administration is calling a reciprocal tariff of 10%, even though the islands had zero trade with the U.S. last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and have no human population.

The extremely remote islands, which are located in the southwest Indian Ocean about halfway between Australia and South Africa, are home only to a large populations of marine birds and mammals, including seals, albatrosses and penguins.

UNESCO, which designated the islands a World Heritage site in 1997, says they contain “outstanding examples of biological and physical processes continuing in an environment essentially undisturbed by humans.”

“The distinctive conservation value of Heard and McDonald — one of the world’s rare pristine island ecosystems — lies in the complete absence of alien plants and animals, as well as human impact,” the U.N. agency’s website says.

The Australian Antarctic Program says the highest level of activity at Heard Island — which is dominated by an active volcano named Big Ben — happens during Australian Antarctic Science expeditions, which occur about every three years and last only a few months.

“At other times the birds and seals have the place to themselves, except for the very occasional visit by a commercial tourist group, private expedition, or periodic fisheries/defence surveillance patrols,” it adds.

Those are incredibly rare: The Australian government says that since the first landing on Heard Island in 1855, there have been only been about 240 shore-based visits to the island and only two landings on the McDonald Islands, most recently in 1980.

Prospective visitors must apply for a permit from the Australian Antarctic Division, and can only travel by boat — at least in theory.

“The catch is that Heard Island is a long way from anywhere (approximately two weeks sail from Australia) and you have to pass through some of the roughest seas on the planet to get there, and back home again,” the Australian Antarctic Program says.

The White House’s inclusion of Heard Island and McDonald Islands on the tariff list has sparked an outpouring of internet searches and memes about the area, many focused on the fact that it is home to more penguins than people.

“BREAKING: A massive protest is happening now on the Heard and McDonald Islands after Trump announced a 10% retaliatory tariff against the islands,” one Threads user wrote, accompanied by a video of a penguin colony milling about.

Svalbard and Jan Mayen