President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on several uninhabited islands on Tuesday as part of a confused effort to establish equal trade.
The White House published a list of countries that had been slapped with “reciprocal tariffs” on Tuesday after Trump accused the nations of ripping off tU.S. with their own tariffs.
Social media users were quick to point out, however, that the list included uninhabited islands and a territory where the only significant settlement was a U.S. military base.
Among them, the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands – an Australian territory and one of the most remote places on Earth – was slapped with a 10% “reciprocal tariff.”
The British Indian Ocean Territory was also slapped with a 10% reciprocal tariff, despite the fact that the only inhabitants of the islands are U.S.-U.K. military personnel and contractors, who occupy a Joint Military Facility in the territory.
“The Heard and McDonald Islands are completely uninhabited. Population zero. I guess we’re going to tariff the seagulls?” mocked American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. “It kind of feels like a White House intern went through Wikipedia’s list of countries and just generated this list off of that with no further research.”
The White House published a list of countries that had been slapped with “reciprocal tariffs” on Tuesday after Trump accused the nations of ripping off tU.S. with their own tariffs.
Social media users were quick to point out, however, that the list included uninhabited islands and a territory where the only significant settlement was a U.S. military base.
Among them, the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands – an Australian territory and one of the most remote places on Earth – was slapped with a 10% “reciprocal tariff.”
The British Indian Ocean Territory was also slapped with a 10% reciprocal tariff, despite the fact that the only inhabitants of the islands are U.S.-U.K. military personnel and contractors, who occupy a Joint Military Facility in the territory.
“The Heard and McDonald Islands are completely uninhabited. Population zero. I guess we’re going to tariff the seagulls?” mocked American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. “It kind of feels like a White House intern went through Wikipedia’s list of countries and just generated this list off of that with no further research.”
