• Economics
• United States
• Australia

April 3, 2025, 2:49 PM View Comments ()

The sweeping tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday have sent shockwaves through markets and capitals around the world—quite literally. The measures, which include a baseline of 10 percent tariffs on all imports into the United States, also extend to tiny, remote islands—from an overseas French territory near Canada to a group of uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an external territory of Australia, are home to mostly penguins, but they still face 10 percent U.S. tariff. Norfolk Island, another Australian territory with a population of roughly 2,100 people, is subject to a 29 percent tariff. “Nowhere on earth is safe,” Australian President Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.

Jan Mayen, a small Norwegian island in the Arctic, which is mostly inhabited by members of the Norwegian military and is not known to export any significant goods to the United States, is also subject to the 10 percent tariff.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas French territory comprising eight islands off the coast of Newfoundland, was hit with a whopping 50 percent tariff. As of 2023, the territory’s total exports, mostly associated with the fishing industry, were valued at just $3.46 million.

The British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and home to a joint U.S.-U.K. military base, was also on the list of countries and territories hit by the reciprocal tariffs. According to the CIA World Factbook, the United States imported 1 percent of Diego Garcia’s total exports in 2023.

Madagascar, the African island-nation known for its biodiversity and one of the poorest countries in the world, is also subject to 47 percent U.S. tariff.