As almost everyone who can read knows, the Mango Mussolini has inflicted tariffs on numerous countries around the world. However, several of the tariffs have been aimed at places with no trading relationship with the United States., two of which are Heard Island and the McDonald Islands1.
Heard Island and the McDonald Islands comprise an Australian external territory and contain Australia’s only two active volcanoes. They are among the most remote places on Earth and are located about 4,100 km southwest of Perth, itself one of the most remote capital cities on the planet. They are uninhabited and can only be reached by sea, requiring a couple of weeks sailing from Perth. The islands were discovered in the 1850s, and the only visitors being sealers, who by 1877 had wiped out the local seal population, so they left. The last time the islands were visited was in 20162.
The flora is very limited on the islands with very few angiosperms, and there are no trees or ferns, and the main vertebrate animals are ocean-going seabirds, penguins and seals2.
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell suggested that inflicting tariffs on uninhabited islands was “clearly a mistake” and added “poor old penguins, I don’t know what they did to Trump but, look, I think it’s an indication, to be honest with you, that this was a rushed process”1.
These islands were listed in the column labelled as countries, with seemingly nobody in the Trump regime knowing that the islands were Australian territories. Prime Minister Albanese said clearly, by way of sarcasm “Nowhere on Earth is safe”3.
While it is quite sensible to believe that this could easily be done by someone as mind-numbingly ignorant as Trump, I do wonder if this stupidity was fed to him on purpose, by someone waiting in the wings for Trump to make even more of a fool of himself (a big ask I know), as a pretext for removing him from office using the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, which allows for the removal of the president in the case of incapacity4. In such a case, Eyeliner Vance would become president. Is this a ploy of his to get Republicans to give Trump the bum’s rush to attempt to save a semblance of their electoral future.
Sources
Hmm. I think Trumps henchthugs are as stupid as he is, so I doubt if putting tariffs on the penguins was a ploy.
Dave,
I doubt that all of Trump’s gofers are as thick as he is.
“Prime Minister Albanese said clearly, by way of sarcasm “Nowhere on Earth is safe””
Maybe not. Russia and DPRK (North Korea) seem to have avoided tariffs.
Mercurial,
There is a fair bet that Putin has something on Trump, so embarrassing such that Putin pulls a string and Trump jumps.
I truly hope this isn’t part of a ploy to install Vance … that would be replacing an avaricious narcissistic moron with a profoundly evil narcissistic moron.
Dave,
They both wear makeup, so I don’t think there is a lot of difference.
i am sure by now that many peeps have twigged that the 1st column (“tariffs charged to the US” 2024) of drunpF’s tariff chart, WERE NOT actually tariffs but were simply various trade imbalances expressed as a percentage.
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/d855ddf7ba328a2164d6a17e86939c7b?src
eg…. the 1st item … China.
US imports from china (2024) US$ 438,947 Billion
US exports to china (2024) US$ 143,545 Billion
balance (2024) -ve US$ 295,401 Billion
Now, take the total trade balance 295,401 and divide it by total value of imports 438,947.
That equals 0.67.
Multiply it by 100 and you get 67.29 per cent.
That’s how Trump came up with the number in the first column to “prove” that China is imposing a 67 per cent tariff on US imports.
According to him, since the US exported only $US143.5 billion ($229.5 billion) worth of goods to China in 2024, but it imported $US438.9 billion in goods from China, China is obviously imposing a 67 per cent tariff on US goods.
what is not so clear is whether this production was down to the stupidity of the drumpF administration or simply his usual disingenuousness to befuddle his sycophantic maggateers.
Thanks Clive. These doctored figures conveniently don’t include “digital services” and profit shifting which extract billuons from the economies of other nations but which also make no/minimal direct contribution. The ATO is waiting on the High Coiurt’s decision wrt a PEPSI arranegemnt before
Sorry, hit the wrong key.
Thanks Clive. These doctored figures conveniently don’t include “digital services” and profit shifting which extract billions from the economies of other nations but which also make no/minimal direct local contribution. America as we know is the home of corporate and personal tax invasion. The ATO is waiting on the High Court’s decision wrt a PEPSI arrangement before moving on to digital services (“software”) such as Facebook, Google etc. via royalty withholding and diverted profits tax regulations. Billions of dollars are involved.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-02/act-pepsico-faces-australian-tax-office-in-high-court/105118810
Probably the only good thing about the Trump fiasco is that it’s doing what the pandemic failed to do – despite all the political palava in this country about the need for more resilience in supply systems etc. It has forced former allies to be less reliant on America and to look to other more reliable trading partners. On the flip side it will undoubtedly force some countries into the arms of China.
Clive,
I just read a piece which seems to indicate that Trump did the calculations himself, in defiance of some of his advisors. If this is so, it staggers me that Trump knew how to do arithmetic.
nb: I have NOT noticed ANY of the LameStreamMedia pick up on this stupidity.
Clive,
It is starting nto make it everywhere in the US. I have also seen it in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/donald-trump-tariffs-antarctica-uninhabited-heard-mcdonald-islands
It is also in the NYT, BBC and sundry other places, even on the Murdoch News.com
ps. although ABC’s business reporter Gareth Hutchens did.
and i did plagiarize some of his his stuff 🙂
I think you underestimate the stupidity, naivety, and casual carelessness of the band of puerile fools Trump has employed BA. There are myriad examples of ludicrous “errors” – many of which Blot and concerned Americans have catalogued – that demonstrate gross incompetence, complete ignorance of the law (and/or a willingness to ignore it), AND a total disregard for the harms being inflicted on people and families.
That careless incompetence includes dodgy numbers in DOGE “audits” which showed the “zero knowledge” of the DOGE dorks mentioned below; the absolutely puerile and likely illegal use of Signal for top secret national security comms (actually ANY comms related to government, as previously discussed); and the illegal deportation of people (known elsewhere as “disappearing”) based on “misread tatoos” and totally erroneous information – which, in the case of Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia who was sent to a notorious El Salvadorian prison, is still being defended by the hillbilly hypocrite Vance despite clear court evidence and judgement. That belligerent airhead ironically publicly admonished others for “failing to read a court document” which clearly showed the Trump administration’s claims of Kilmer’s MS-13 gang membership had previously be found by courts to be an invention. This suggests Vance himself either didn’t read the document or his comprehension skills are primary school level. Far more likely is that Vance’s blind ideology and belief in his own infallibility has severley impaired his cognitive abilities and willingness to listen and learn from others – which would explain his ignorance of allies contributions to American wars since WWII for example. Then we had Musk’s wet behind the ears DOGE dogsbodies, two of whom decided to take the law into their own hands to open a water pumping plant which – wait for it – didn’t supply water to LA anyway. As someone with first hand knowledge commented: “They [the artless DOGE dunces] didn’t get their photo op… It was a slapstick operation of 20-somethings who are seen as whiz kids but have zero knowledge.”
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/elon-musks-doge-whiz-kids-took-matters-into-their-own-hands-flew-to-california-to-release-water-during-raging-los-angeles-wildfires/articleshow/118804995.cms
Early days but the pièce de résistance among a long and ever increasing list of inane and negligent abominations is probably “National Security Advisor” (lol) Waltz’s inclusion of a relatively liberal media editor into a “Top Secret” security chat group.
It all makes for extremely sad reading if you can stomach it.
Interestingly we can now be certain that many of Trump’s tariffs are based entirely on bullying and bluff to try and get other countries to kiss his arse. China has called the bluff, leading Eric the minor vuvuzela posting this obvious giveaway: “I wouldn’t want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with Donald Trump . The first to negotiate will win – the last will absolutely lose. I have seen this movie my entire life…”
Jon,
Yep, they are morons. And if this dictatorship has legs (which I doubt, given the 5 million who demonstrated in the US on the weekend), then several of the gofers will find out, as Ernst Rohm did in the 1930s when the leadership of the nazi brownshirts were purged, that loyalty to a dictator is not reciprocated if you turn out to be a liability. I hink Musk will find out soon as he has been reduced to doing financial gymnastics to try to save X and Tesla. If they fall over, he will likely not be able to chuck cash at Trump and will be out on his ear. He is now said to be ‘stepping away’ from DOGE.
If you weren’t worried before…..
“This year, however, Hitler’s birthday is the date one of Donald Trump’s first executive orders requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to submit to him a report on whether or not he can suspend the Constitution and Bill of Rights by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807.”
https://hartmannreport.com/p/trumps-hitlers-birthday-gift-the-ffc?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=160733298
Jon,
People on Substack and elsewhere are stating that fascism is coming to America. They are wrong. It has already come.