Australia has expressed its bemusement over Donald Trump’s decision to slap a 29-percent trade tariff on its tiny Pacific territory of Norfolk Island.
The island – home to many descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers – has a total population of a little over 2 000 people and lies 1 600km northeast of Sydney.
The island’s chamber of commerce says it ranked as the world’s number 223 exporter in 2019, shipping goods worth A$2.7 million led by soybean meal and sowing seeds.
Yet a global tariff list brandished by Trump showed it was being punished with a tariff nearly three times higher than the Australian mainland’s 10 percent.
“I’m not sure what Norfolk Island’s major exports are to the United States and why it’s been singled out, but it has,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.
“I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States,” he added.
It “exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is exempt from this”.
In any case, the prime minister could not say why the island would not face the same US tariff as the rest of the country.
“Last time I looked, Norfolk Island was a part of Australia,” he later told public radio ABC, describing it as “somewhat unexpected and a bit strange”.
Uninhabited by humans
Even harder to explain, perhaps, Trump imposed a 10-percent tariff on imports from Australia’s Heard and McDonald Islands territory in the sub-Antarctic – which are uninhabited by humans but provide a home to large numbers of penguins.
“Due to the extreme isolation of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, together with the persistently severe weather and sea conditions, human activities in the region have been, and remain, limited,” an Australian government website explains.
Here are Donald Trump’s US Reciprocal Tariffs by country/region:
Country/Region
Country/Region Tariff*
US Reciprocal Tariffs
Afghanistan
49%
10%
Albania
10%
10%
Algeria
59%
30%
Andorra
10%
10%
Angola
63%
32%
Anguilla
10%
10%
Antigua and Barbuda
10%
10%
Argentina
10%
10%
Armenia
10%
10%
Aruba
10%
10%
Australia
10%
10%
Azerbaijan
10%
10%
Bahamas
10%
10%
Bahrain
10%
10%
Bangladesh
74%
37%
Barbados
10%
10%
Belize
10%
10%
Benin
10%
10%
Bermuda
10%
10%
Bhutan
10%
10%
Bolivia
20%
10%
Bosnia and Herzegovina
70%
35%
Botswana
74%
37%
Brazil
10%
10%
British Indian Ocean Territory
10%
10%
British Virgin Islands
10%
10%
Brunei
47%
24%
Burma
88%
44%
Burundi
10%
10%
Cabo Verde
10%
10%
Cambodia
97%
49%
Cameroon
22%
11%
Cayman Islands
10%
10%
Central African Republic
10%
10%
Chad
26%
13%
Chile
10%
10%
China
67%
34%
Christmas Island
10%
10%
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
10%
10%
Colombia
10%
10%
Comoros
10%
10%
Congo (Brazzaville)
10%
10%
Congo (Kinshasa)
22%
11%
Cook Islands
10%
10%
Costa Rica
17%
10%
Cote d’Ivoire
41%
21%
Curacao
10%
10%
Djibouti
10%
10%
Dominica
10%
10%
Dominican Republic
10%
10%
Ecuador
12%
10%
Egypt
10%
10%
El Salvador
10%
10%
Equatorial Guinea
25%
13%
Eritrea
10%
10%
Eswatini
10%
10%
Ethiopia
10%
10%
EU
39%
20%
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
82%
41%
Fiji
63%
32%
French Guiana
10%
10%
French Polynesia
10%
10%
Gabon
10%
10%
Gambia
10%
10%
Georgia
10%
10%
Ghana
17%
10%
Gibraltar
10%
10%
Grenada
10%
10%
Guadeloupe
10%
10%
Guatemala
10%
10%
Guinea
10%
10%
Guinea-Bissau
10%
10%
Guyana
76%
38%
Haiti
10%
10%
Heard and McDonald Islands
10%
10%
Honduras
10%
10%
Iceland
10%
10%
India
52%
26%
Indonesia
64%
32%
Iran
10%
10%
Iraq
78%
39%
Israel
33%
17%
Jamaica
10%
10%
Japan
46%
24%
Jordan
40%
20%
Kazakhstan
54%
27%
Kenya
10%
10%
Kiribati
10%
10%
Kosovo
10%
10%
Kuwait
10%
10%
Kyrgyzstan
10%
10%
Laos
95%
48%
Lebanon
10%
10%
Lesotho
99%
50%
Liberia
10%
10%
Libya
61%
31%
Liechtenstein
73%
37%
Madagascar
93%
47%
Malawi
34%
17%
Malaysia
47%
24%
Maldives
10%
10%
Mali
10%
10%
Marshall Islands
10%
10%
Martinique
10%
10%
Mauritania
10%
10%
Mauritius
80%
40%
Mayotte
10%
10%
Micronesia
10%
10%
Moldova
61%
31%
Monaco
10%
10%
Mongolia
10%
10%
Montenegro
10%
10%
Montserrat
10%
10%
Morocco
10%
10%
Mozambique
31%
16%
Namibia
42%
21%
Nauru
59%
30%
Nepal
10%
10%
New Zealand
20%
10%
Nicaragua
36%
18%
Niger
10%
10%
Nigeria
27%
14%
Norfolk Island
58%
29%
North Macedonia
65%
33%
Norway
30%
15%
Oman
10%
10%
Pakistan
58%
29%
Panama
10%
10%
Papua New Guinea
15%
10%
Paraguay
10%
10%
Peru
10%
10%
Philippines
34%
17%
Qatar
10%
10%
Reunion
73%
37%
Rwanda
10%
10%
Saint Elena
15%
10%
Saint Kitts and Nevis
10%
10%
Saint Lucia
10%
10%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
99%
50%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
10%
10%
Samoa
10%
10%
San Marino
10%
10%
São Tomé and Príncipe
10%
10%
Saudi Arabia
10%
10%
Senegal
10%
10%
Serbia
74%
37%
Sierra Leone
10%
10%
Singapore
10%
10%
Sint Maarten
10%
10%
Solomon Islands
10%
10%
South Africa
60%
30%
South Korea
50%
25%
South Sudan
10%
10%
Sri Lanka
88%
44%
Sudan
10%
10%
Suriname
10%
10%
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
10%
10%
Switzerland
61%
31%
Syria
81%
41%
Taiwan
64%
32%
Tajikistan
10%
10%
Tanzania
10%
10%
Thailand
72%
36%
Timor-Leste
10%
10%
Togo
10%
10%
Tokelau
10%
10%
Tonga
10%
10%
Trinidad and Tobago
12%
10%
Tunisia
55%
28%
Turkey
10%
10%
Turkmenistan
10%
10%
Turks and Caicos Islands
10%
10%
Tuvalu
10%
10%
Uganda
20%
10%
Ukraine
10%
10%
United Arab Emirates
10%
10%
United Kingdom
10%
10%
Uruguay
10%
10%
Uzbekistan
10%
10%
Vanuatu
44%
22%
Venezuela
29%
15%
Vietnam
90%
46%
Yemen
10%
10%
Zambia
33%
17%
Zimbabwe
35%
18%
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