The US defends tariffs on a remote penguin island and seal

The Secretary of Trade of the United States defended the country’s decision to bring tariffs to a group of uninhabited islands, which are inhabited only by Penguins and cats.

The introduction of tariffs in the heard and the McDonald islands aimed at closing “inappropriate holes” and would prevent other countries from going through the islands to get to the United States, Howard Lutnik told the BBC CBS partner.

Australia’s authorities responded with surprise last week when they learned about tariffs on the island sitting 4,000 km (2485 miles) from Australia.

Trade Minister Don Farral told ABC news that the introduction of the tariff was “clearly a mistake” indicating a “rapid process”.

But when asked about the inclusion of the Australian territory in Trump’s tariffs, Lutnik said: “If you leave something from the list, countries that are mostly arbitrary of America go through these countries.”

“The president knows it, he is tired of it, and he will fix it.”

Lutnik’s interview was one of the few that gave US government officials to defend the new tariffs of the president after all three major stock indexes on Friday more than 5% The worst week for the American stock market since 2020.