Summary
The U.S. imposed a 29% tariff on Norfolk Island, nearly triple the 10% rate applied to the rest of Australia, with no explanation from the White House.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed confusion, noting Norfolk Island’s limited economic activity. The territory has a population of about 2,000 and minimal exports.
Other remote territories like Christmas Island and Heard and McDonald Islands also received tariffs, though the latter are uninhabited.
My personal guess (just a guess, since none of this makes any logical sense) is that he’s going to use the very high tariffs on those islands to help him with some creative accounting in showing overall wins when all of this is over - increasing the pittance that these islands are likely paying us already, let’s call it turning $100 into $150 - no meaningful benefit to the US, but looks amazing by the percentages.
“See, I tariff’d the whole world for a 5.5 gajillion percent increase in US revenue! I’m a big winner!”