Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island / Photo: Matt CURNOCK - AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
-
US hiring beats expectations in March as tariff uncertainty brews
-
'Unique' De Bruyne one of the greats, says Guardiola
-
Automakers shift gears after Trump tariffs
-
Where things stand in the US-China trade war
-
De Bruyne to leave Man City at end of the season
-
Youthful Matildas provide spark in friendly win over South Korea
-
Stocks, oil extend rout as China retaliates over Trump tariffs
-
De Bruyne says he will leave Man City at end of season
-
UK spy agency MI5 reveals fruity secrets in new show
-
Leverkusen's Wirtz to return 'next week', says Alonso
-
England bowler Stone to miss most of India Test series
-
Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
-
Rat earns world record for sniffing landmines in Cambodia
-
Elton John says new album 'freshest' since 1970s
-
EU announces 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
-
Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
-
'Historic moment': South Koreans react to Yoon's dismissal
-
Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike
-
Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
-
Crashes, fires as Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japan GP practice
-
India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution
-
Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
-
Families of Duterte drug war victims demand probe into online threats
-
Stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Kolkata's Iyer more bothered about impact than price tag
-
BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
-
Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
-
China floats battle barges in Taiwan invasion plans
-
McLaren's Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japanese GP practice
-
South Korea seize two tons of cocaine in largest-ever drug bust
-
Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
-
The race to save the Amazon's bushy-bearded monkeys
-
TikTok must find non-Chinese owner by Saturday to avert US ban
-
Trump tariffs to test resiliency of US consumers
-
Clamping down on 'forever chemicals'
-
Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
-
Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
-
'Don't want to die': Lesotho HIV patients look to traditional medicine
-
Curry scores 37 as Warriors outgun LeBron's Lakers
-
Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
-
Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
-
Security 'breakdown' allows armed men into Melbourne's MCG
-
Norris fastest in Japan GP first practice, Tsunoda sixth on Red Bull debut
-
Albon says Thailand taking bid for F1 race 'very seriously'
-
'It's gone': conservation science in Thailand's burning forest
-
Protest as quake-hit Myanmar junta chief joins Bangkok summit
-
EU leaders push for influence at Central Asia summit
-
Asian stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Lewandowski, Mbappe duel fuelling tight La Liga title race
-
South Korea court upholds President Yoon's impeachment, strips him of office
NYSE - LSE
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.
One widely shared image on Thursday showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent row with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.
Another meme showed US First Lady Melania Trump gazing up at an emperor penguin -- in place of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- while Trump looks askance.
Trump's announcement of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday certainly received an icy reception in many countries.
But there has also been bafflement about why some of the most remote parts of the world have been targeted.
A case in point: why would Trump slap 10 percent tariffs on all exports from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory without a human population, but four different species of penguin?
"The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X.
"Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.
The White House said sanctions on Russia over President Vladimir Putin's war on meant that there was no "meaningful" trade on which to impose tariffs.
Trump also caused puzzlement with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a tiny Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little over 2,000 humans.
"I'm not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Britain's remote Falkland Islands -- home to one million penguins, and most famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to repel Argentinian invaders -- was hit by 41 percent exports even though the UK only faces 10 percent.
Trump's tariffs have however been no laughing matter for global markets, with US stocks suffering their worst day since the Covid pandemic in 2020.
G.Stevens--AMWN