Trump tariffs target remote, uninhabited islands with no U.S. trade
National security implications of tariff announcement
National security analyst Hal Kempfer joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to highlight the national security implications of President Trump's tariff announcement.
President Donald Trump’s far-reaching new tariffs are going farther than many expected – far enough to reach remote islands where no one lives.
Trump, in a Rose Garden announcement on Wednesday, said he was placing elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the United States, while imposing a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency.
But not all countries included on Trump’s tariff list conduct trade with the U.S. Some of the islands listed don’t even have human populations.
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Tariffs target remote, uninhabited islands
Dig deeper:
At least three uninhabited islands are included in Trump’s tariffs, according to Axios, while other sparsely populated remote islands are facing much higher tariffs than the countries they belong to. They include:
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Heard Island and McDonald Islands: Located in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean more than 2,500 miles off the coast of Australia, the volcanic islands have no permanent residents, aside from seals, penguins and other marine life. Humans need a permit to visit. The islands conducted no trade with the U.S. last year. Both islands now have U.S. tariffs of 10%.
FILE - A handout photo taken on November 21, 2012 and released on October 8, 2024 by the Australian Antarctic Division shows a waddle of King penguins standing on the shores of Corinthian Bay in the Australian territory of Heard Island in the Souther
Svalbard and Jan Mayen: Svalbard is an archipelago with a population of fewer than 3,000 people. It houses a Russian coal-mining settlement, according to The Washington Post. Jan Mayen, an island in the Arctic Ocean near Greenland has no permanent residents, only 18 people who operate a weather station and airfield. Neither island had any trade with the U.S. last year. The Trump administration has imposed 10% tariffs on Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
Norfolk Island: Norfolk Island is an Australian territory in the South Pacific Ocean with a population of just over 2,000 people. It had $200,000 worth of imports by the U.S. in 2024, yet it’s facing 29% tariffs, far more than the 10% tariffs imposed on the Australian mainland.
Falkland Islands: A British territory in the Atlantic Ocean, the Falkland Islands are facing 41% tariffs, compared to 10% for Britain.
Réunion Island: A French territory in the Indian Ocean, Trump has imposed a 37% tariff on Réunion Island, compared to 20% for countries in the European Union.
Why is Trump imposing tariffs?
What they're saying:
The president, who said the tariffs were designed to boost domestic manufacturing, used aggressive rhetoric to describe a global trade system that the United States helped to build after World War II, saying "our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered" by other nations.
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Trump said he was acting to bring in hundreds of billions in new revenue to the U.S. government and restore fairness to global trade.
"Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years," he said. "But it is not going to happen anymore."
What will tariffs do to the economy?
Breaking down tariff impacts on U.S. consumers
FOX 13 Tampa Bay's Evyn Moon joins LiveNOW's Austin Westfall to break down how President Trump's tariff announcement could impact U.S. consumers.
Big picture view:
Trump declared a national economic emergency to levy the tariffs. He has promised that factory jobs will return to the United States as a result of the taxes, but his policies risk a sudden economic slowdown as consumers and businesses could face sharp price hikes. The action amounts to a historic tax hike that could push the global order to a breaking point.
By the numbers:
Trump held up a poster board showing the combined rate of tariffs and other non-tariff barriers that other countries impose on U.S. exports alongside the reciprocal tariffs the Trump administration plans to levy on imports from those countries. Among those included were:
- China: 67% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 34% reciprocal tariffs
- European Union: 39% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 20% reciprocal tariffs
- Vietnam: 90% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 46% reciprocal tariffs
- Japan: 46% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 24% reciprocal tariffs
- India: 52% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 26% reciprocal tariffs
- South Korea: 50% tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S. goods; 25% reciprocal tariffs
The White House says the tariffs and other trade imbalances led to an $1.2 trillion imbalance last year.
Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings, said the average tariff rate charged by the United States would increase to roughly 22% from 2.5% in 2024.
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Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman, whose company is behind such classic toys as Tonka trucks, Lincoln Logs and Care Bears, said the Tonka Mighty Dump Truck will go from $29.99 to $39.99 this holiday season, possibly even $45. Most of the company’s toys are made in China.
The other side:
Several Republican senators, particularly from farm and border states, have questioned the wisdom of the tariffs. U.S. stock market futures sold off sharply overnight in anticipation of the economy weakening, after having already dropped since the start of this year.
New tariffs placed on nearly all U.S. trading partners
Harvard professor Mark Wu joins LiveNOW's Christina Evans to explain what President Trump's new tariff plan could look like.
"With today’s announcement, U.S. tariffs will approach levels not seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which incited a global trade war and deepened the Great Depression," said Scott Lincicome and Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said the tariffs are "part of the chaos and dysfunction" being generated across the Trump administration. The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee stressed that Trump should not have the sole authority to raise taxes as he intends without getting lawmakers' approval, saying that Republicans so far have been "blindly loyal."
"The president shouldn’t be able to do that," DelBene said. "This is a massive tax increase on American families, and it’s without a vote in Congress. ... President Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would lower costs on day one. Now he says he doesn’t care if prices go up — he’s broken his promise."
The Source: This report includes information from Axios, The Washington Post, The Associated Press and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting.