Heard Island and McDonald Islands, external territories of Australia and located in the southern Indian Ocean, are amongst those hit by Trump’s tariffs. Since the announcement, some of the islands’ only inhabitants – penguins – have become the unlikely mascots of a movement criticising the decision.
The Heard and McDonald Islands are amongst some of the most remote places on Earth. They can only be reached by a two-week boat voyage from Perth on Australia’s west coast and haven’t been stepped on by humans for approximately 10 years. Only penguins, seals, and a handful of other animals populate the area.
Nonetheless, the islands have now been hit by a 10% tariff on goods bound for the US. And since the announcement, a Threads account called PenguinsAgainstTrump has seen the light of day, sparking a whole new movement on social media. The account claims to be run by a group of penguins living on the islands, outraged by Trump’s decision.
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“Remember folks, not only has he tariffed penguins, but his Defense Secretary spilled the krill on top-secret military operations,” one of the PenguinsAgainstTrump Threads posts reads.
“JD Vance is just mad he can’t mock us for not wearing a suit or tux,” the penguins wrote in another post.
“What are you gonna do, deport us? We’ve been dealing with ICE for centuries,” the outraged animals continue.
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According to the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, the decision to put the Heard Island and McDonald Islands on the tariffs list was made in order to prevent loopholes.
“If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us. The president knows that, he’s tired of it, and he’s going to fix that,” Lutnick told the BBC.
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Birds on a mission
However, people online have jumped on the penguin bandwagon and are expressing their sympathy for their cause. Former vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz already wrote a post about the penguins, while all over X and other social media, people are posting images of enraged penguins.
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Armoured penguins, birds learning how to target Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks, penguins in Glasgow supporting their fellows across the world or penguins plotting about the ‘Gulf or Antarctica’: penguins aren’t messing around and are ready to take action against the US president.
