Washington [US], April 8: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the decision to impose tariffs on the Heard and McDonald's Islands to close the 'loophole' could be taken advantage of by the parties to avoid tariffs.
When U.S. President Donald Trump announced a list of countries and territories subject to reciprocal tariffs last week, the public was surprised to learn that the Heard and McDonald's Islands (an Australian territory) were also subject to tariffs, as they were uninhabited and full of penguins. Meanwhile, Washington's rivals such as Russia, the DPRK or Belarus are not on the tariff list.
In an April 6 interview, the CBS News host posed the issue to Lutnick, asking if the U.S. administration had used artificial intelligence (AI) to create a list of reciprocal tariffs. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce laughed at the question, dismissing the use of AI and affirming: "Our intention is that no place is overlooked."
According to Mr. Lutnick, President Donald Trump does not want a place that countries can use as a "transit station" to avoid tariffs when exporting goods to the United States. Therefore, Mr. Trump wants to close the above loopholes.
"If you miss any of the places, the countries that are trying to profit from the U.S. will want to go through those places to come to us," Lutnick said.
Australian officials last week were surprised to see the Heard and McDonald's Islands, 4,000 kilometres from mainland Australia, subject to tariffs, saying Washington had been "in a hurry" while making the list.
Import data from the Heard and McDonald's Islands into the U.S. remains unclear. World Bank (WB) reports note that the territory has exported a small amount of goods to the United States in the past few years. In 2022, the US imported about $1.4 million from the island, mostly "electrical equipment and machinery", according to the BBC.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
