My Take | Donald Trump’s tariff madness targets not only allies but animals
Penguins, seals and seabirds have not been spared in America’s global trade war, likewise territories with significant US or allied military assets
When Donald Trump says he is imposing universal tariffs, he really means it. The US president is not just targeting most trading partners of the United States, which are by and large nations and economies made up of humans.
He is, as confirmed by the White House, also going after territories full of penguins, seals, seabirds, crustaceans or other wildlife, but with few or no humans. There may be ecology but no economy to speak of.
Seriously, I am not making this up. Call those poor animals collateral damage.
Numerous news publications are having a field day with their headlines such as, “A trade war on penguins?”
The uninhabited Heard and McDonald islands, which are in sub-Antarctica, are home to colonies of penguins and seals – human population, zero. It takes almost two weeks to reach them if you sail from Australia or New Zealand. The ice-covered islands are a Unesco World Heritage site.
They are also facing a 10 per cent tariff. As confirmed by a statement from the White House, that’s because they are officially “external territories” of Australia.