On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced his plan for sweeping tariffs, which are set to be applied to almost every other country on the map (except for Russia, which is conspicuously not on the list). The plan has sparked a global trade war — China has already announced retaliatory tariffs — and the stock market went into freefall this week as a result. Also, you might have been seeing some memes about penguins.
During Trump’s big “Liberation Day” press conference, reporters received a list of countries and territories that will be subject to tariffs. That list included the Heard and McDonald Islands, an Australian territory near Antarctica that will now face a 10 percent tax on any goods sent to the U.S. Does this territory produce, I don’t know, a lot of timber or phone chargers? No, it’s actually completely free of people and inhabited mostly by penguins.
Obviously, Trump’s choice to put tariffs on a territory whose main export is cute photos of fluffy birds is a great example of the lack of critical thinking that went into this whole plan. So naturally, in an environment that has already spawned great tweets, it was bound to be a meme.
Kind of a slam-dunk posting opportunity for these guys. While you might be laughing now, this is serious business. Americans everywhere can expect to see a much higher price tag on tuxedos that fit like skin.
