Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday defended the Trump administration’s tariffs on Heard Island and McDonald Islands — which have no permanent human residents and are mostly populated by penguins and seals — arguing the tax is needed to prevent other countries from using the islands as a tariff workaround.
The Australian territory was hit with a 10% levy as part of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging “reciprocal” tariffs on most of the world, leading some to speculate that the islands were automatically given a tariff without actual consideration by the White House.
In her interview with Lutnick, “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan was incredulous: “Did you use AI to generate this? ... Why are they on the list?”
“No!” Lutnick responded. “The idea is that there are no countries left off … If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.”
The U.S. has almost no business with the Heard Island and McDonald Islands. According to export data from the World Bank, the U.S. imported $1.4 million worth of products from the islands in 2022, almost all of which were “machinery and electrical” imports. Before that, however, imports from the islands ranged from $15,000 to $325,000 a year.
