US defends tariffs on remote island of penguins and seals

The US Commerce Secretary has defended the government’s decision to impose levies on a group of desolate islands, which only have penguins and seals as inhabitants.

According to Howard Lutnick, the Heard and McDonald islands ‘ taxes were intended to close “ridiculous loopholes” and prevent other nations from shipping through them to the US, according to Howard Lutnick, a BBC US partner.

Regulators in Australia were surprised last week when they learned about the island’s taxes, which are 4, 000 km (2, 485 si ) away from Australia.

Its industry minister, Don Farrell, claimed that the introduction of tariffs was” evidently a mistake” and a “rushed process” according to its trade minister.

When asked about the participation of the Asian country on Trump’s tariffs list, Lutnick responded,” If you leave everything off the list, the nations that try to arbitrage America generally pass through those countries to us.”

The President is aware of this, is sick of it, and will make a change.

Lutnick’s interview was one of several given by US government officials to defend the president’s new tariffs after all three major stock indexes in the US plunged more than 5% on Friday, in the worst week for the US stock market since 2020.