About

Donald Trump's Penguin Tariffs, also known as the Heard and McDonald Islands Penguin Tariffs, refers to memes and jokes about U.S. President Donald Trump enforcing reciprocal tariffs on nearly every country and region in the world, including uninhabited places like Heard Island and McDonald Islands, which are populated solely by penguins. Memes about penguins protesting against being tariffed began making the rounds online soon after the policy was announced, with many internet users discussing how the Trump administration created the list of countries to tariff and why an island with no people was included in the list.

Origin

On April 2nd, 2025, United States President Donald Trump unveiled a baseline tariff on all imports of at least 10 percent on all goods entering the country, calling it "Reciprocal Tariffs," which occurred during the Make America Wealthy Again Event in front of the White House.^[1]

The official White House X^[2] account uploaded a full list of the reciprocal tariffs against more than 180 countries on April 2nd, 2025, including Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, which were hit by 10 percent tariffs.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands are an external territory of Australia. The remote islands are uninhabited by people, with the Guardian^[3] writing that the last visit to the island by people is believed to have been nearly 10 years ago. The islands are currently home to several species of penguins.

Other Australian external territories were also hit with tariffs higher than the Australian mainland, including Norfolk Island, which was charged with tariffs as high as 29 percent, 19 points higher than Australia's 10 percent tariffs.

On April 2nd, X^[4] user @h0serr quoted the White House post, writing, "Mf putting tariffs on air," and gathering over 40,000 likes in two days.

Spread

More internet users noted that the Trump administration had seemingly imposed tariffs on an island primarily occupied by penguins, including X^[5] user @WarMonitor3, who tweeted, "The Trump administration has put a 10 percent tariff on the Heard Island and McDonald which has a population of 0 people and is inhabited only by penguins," on April 2nd, 2025, gathering over 40,000 likes in two days.

On April 3rd, Redditor^[8] /u/Elon-Murks posted a meme about Trump imposing a 10 percent tariff on islands only occupied by penguins to the subreddit /r/whenthe, gathering over 20,000 upvotes in a day.

On April 3rd, Bluesky^[6] user @heardislandgov posted an image of a penguin gathering, writing, "It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd." The skeet gathered over 10,000 likes in a day.

Also on April 3rd, 2025, X^[7] user @Andr3jH tweeted a video of several penguins wearing backpacks and walking around, writing, "penguins leaving Heard Island and McDonald Island. is THIS what you voted for?" The post gathered over 48,000 likes in a day.

penguins leaving Heard Island and McDonald Island. is THIS what you voted for? pic.twitter.com/yqCMAx9zGa

— ᐱ ᑎ ᑐ ᒋ ᕮ ᒍ (@Andr3jH) April 3, 2025

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References