Penguin Memes Dominate Internet Following Trump Tariffs An Unpopulated Island
Trump imposed 10% tariffs on all shipments from the Heard and McDonald Islands, an uninhabited sub-Antarctic Australian island with no population of humans.
Washington, United States:
Donald Trump’s tariffs are now a black and white issue on social media, with penguin memes spreading like wildfire after he imposed tariffs on an island where penguin colonies live but no human beings do.
One such widely shared picture on Thursday was of a penguin standing in for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent spat with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.
Trump’s declaration of global tariffs on Wednesday undoubtedly was given a chilly welcome in much of the world.
But there has also been confusion as to why some of the most isolated regions of the globe have been included.
Another meme featured US First Lady Melania Trump looking up at an emperor penguin — instead of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — as Trump looks sideways.
An example: why would Trump impose 10 percent tariffs on all shipments from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a desolate sub-Antarctic Australian outpost with no human inhabitants, but four distinct species of penguin?
“The penguins have been taking us for a ride for years,” Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former 11-day communications director during his first term and current outspoken critic, was facetious on X.
“Donald Trump imposed tariffs on penguins and not on Putin,” tweeted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, pointing out that Russia wasn’t on the US tariff list.
The White House indicated that sanctions on Russia due to President Vladimir Putin‘s conflict on meant there was no “meaningful” trade on which tariffs could be levied.
Trump also created confusion with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a small Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little more than 2,000 humans.
“I’m not entirely sure that Norfolk Island, in relation to it, is a trade rival with the United States’ massive economy,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated.
Britain’s distant Falkland Islands — the home of one million penguins, and most renowned for a 1982 war waged by Britain to drive out Argentinian invaders — was struck by 41 percent exports despite the UK facing only 10 percent.
Trump’s tariffs have nevertheless not been a joke for international markets, with US shares enduring their worst day in the year following the Covid pandemic in 2020.
