Tariff Controversy...
Australian Authorities State:
"We Will File an Objection"
U.S. President Donald Trump has sparked controversy by imposing a tariff bomb of up to 29% on the remote Australian island of Norfolk. Norfolk Island is a small volcanic island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand.
On the 4th, Yonhap News cited the British daily The Guardian and reported that this may be a 'misfortune' caused by confusion with another place name and name in the UK. Australian authorities expressed their embarrassment over the tariff announcement that day, as Norfolk Island is a remote island with almost no recent export history to the United States.
Moreover, the 29% tariff rate is 19 percentage points higher than the tariff imposed by President Trump on mainland Australia. The population of Norfolk Island is only about 2,000 people. A Norfolk Island official waved off the issue, saying, "We have never exported anything to the United States from our island," and Don Farrell, Australia's Minister for Trade, called it a "clear mistake" and hurriedly began assessing the situation.
For this reason, The Guardian mentioned the possibility that the Trump administration confused Norfolk Island with another place of the same name in the UK. According to data provided by U.S. authorities, Norfolk Island exported goods worth $655,000 (about 940 million KRW) to the United States in 2023.
Most of this, $413,000, was recorded as leather shoes. In fact, shoe stores on Norfolk Island responded, "We sell shoes to tourists and have never exported to the United States." Norfolk Island was also excluded from the annex of President Trump's executive order on reciprocal tariffs.
There were other places included in the table presented at the time of President Trump's announcement but later removed from the annex. R?union, a French island in the Indian Ocean, was listed as subject to a 37% reciprocal tariff in the initial table but was not included in the annex. Similarly, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French territory, was omitted from the annex compared to the announcement.
Meanwhile, after President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on an uninhabited Antarctic island inhabited only by penguins, a 'penguin meme' mocking Trump has become popular online. The image shows Trump shouting "Pay the tariff" at the penguins, who respond, "We plan to move our business elsewhere."
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