In early April 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs affecting regions globally — including even a group of uninhabited islands occupied only by penguins and other wildlife, per a rumor online.
One X user wrote: "BREAKING: Trump has officially placed a 10% tariff on the Heard Island and McDonald which has a population of 0 people and is inhabited only by penguins."
The claim was true. Even after Trump announced a 90-day pause on some of the new rates on April 9, the plan still included a 10% duty on foreign imports from the Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI), an uninhabited island group that is part of the external territory of Australia and located near Antarctica.
In addition to X, the claim circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Reddit (archived) and Bluesky (archived).
The Heard and McDonalds islands (HIMI) are home to penguins, seals and, according to the CIA World Factbook and the Australian government, no humans.
The Trump administration's original tariffs list (archived), posted on the White House X account, did indeed include the "Heard and McDonald Islands," which were hit with 10% "discounted reciprocal" tariffs.
We reached out to the White House to ask why an island group with no human inhabitants was included on its tariffs list. We also asked why HIMI was listed separately from Australia, given the island group's classification as Australian territory and the fact that "mainland" Australia and HIMI were hit with the same 10% tariffs. We await the White House's reply.
We also reached out to the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for its latest comment on the HIMI tariffs and await a reply.
According to UNESCO, which includes the island group on its World Heritage List of locations with "outstanding universal value":
The distinctive conservation value of Heard and McDonald – one of the world's rare pristine island ecosystems – lies in the complete absence of alien plants and animals, as well as human impact.
The Australian government also highlighted the care taken to minimize human impact on the island group. According to the government website:
Since the first landing on Heard Island in 1855, there have been only approximately 240 shore-based visits to the island, and only two landings on McDonald Island (in 1971 and 1980).
In lieu of humans, the island's inhabitants include flying birds, penguins, seals and invertebrates. Penguins are the most abundant birds on the islands.
Despite this, import and export figures from the World Bank reported by the Guardian appeared to show that the U.S. imported $1.4 million worth of goods from HIMI in 2022. Almost all of the imported goods were classed as "mach and electric." It was not clear from the World Bank figures what specific products were imported by the U.S.
On April 4, The Guardian reported that the HIMI tariffs "appear to have been calculated based on erroneous trade data."
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told CBS on April 6 that places like HIMI were hit with tariffs because they could be potential "loopholes" through which nations facing high tariffs could continue to export to the U.S. at lower rates.
Some of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, including those for HIMI, took effect on April 5 after being announced on April 2. However, on April 9, Trump announced the 90-day pause on higher rates for dozens of U.S. trading partners, excluding China. The 10% reciprocal tariff rate remains in place for other countries and territories, including HIMI.
Snopes is keeping a running tracker of the Trump administration's tariffs.