“ `Nowhere on earth is safe ”: Trump imposes prices on uninhabited islands near Antarctica | Trump prices

A group of sterile and uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica, covered with glaciers and housing Penguins, was swept away in the Donald Trump trade war, while the American president struck them with a 10% tariff on the goods.

The heard islands and the McDonald Islands, which form an external territory of Australia, are among the most remote places of the earth, accessible only by a two -week boat trip of Perth on the west coast of Australia. They are completely uninhabited, the last visit of the people who would have almost 10 years ago.

Nevertheless, the islands heard and McDonald appeared in a list published by the White House of the “countries” which would have new commercial rates imposed.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday: “Nowhere on Earth is safe.”

The heard islands and the McDonald Islands are part of several “external territories” of Australia listed separately in the list of prices in Australia, which will see a 10% rate imposed on its goods.

External territories are part of Australia and not autonomous, but have a unique relationship with the federal government. These territories appearing on the list of White Houses were the Cocos Islands (Keeling), the island of Christmas and the island of Norfolk.

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The island of Norfolk, which has 2,188 inhabitants and is 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northeast of Sydney, was struck by a price of 29% – or 19 percentage points higher than the rest of Australia.

In 2023, Norfolk Island exported US $ 655,000 ($ 1.04 million) for the United States, with its main export being US $ 413,000 ($ 658,000) of leather shoes, according to the Economic Complexity Observatory.

Albanese said on Thursday: “Norfolk island obtained a price of 29%. I am not sure that the island of Norfolk, towards it, a commercial competitor with the giant economy of the United States, but that shows and illustrates the fact that nowhere on Earth is sheltered.”

The export figures for the Heard and McDonald Islands are even more perplexed. The territory has a fishing but no buildings or human housing.

Despite this, according to export data from the World Bank, the United States imported US $ 1.4 million ($ 2.23 million) of HEARD and McDonald Islands in 2022, almost all imports of “machines and electric”. It was not immediately clear what these goods were.

In the previous five years, imports from the Heard and McDonald Islands varied from US $ 15,000 ($ 24,000) to US $ 325,000 ($ 518,000) per year.

The White House, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Antarctic Division have been contacted for comments.