Ottilie Mitchell and Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney
Annelise Rees
The distant islands and McDonald have not been visited by humans for almost a decade
Two small distant antarctic outposts populated by penguins and seals are among the obscure places targeted by the new prices of the Trump administration.
The Heard and McDonald Islands – a territory which is 4,000 km (2,485 miles) in the southwest of Australia – are only accessible by a seven -day boat trip, and have not been visited by humans for almost a decade.
President Trump unveiled a radical import tax system on Wednesday, in retaliation for what he said is unfair trade obstacles on American products.
A handful of other Australian territories have also been affected by the new prices, in addition to the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard, the Falkland Islands and the British Indian Ocean territory.
“This shows and simply illustrates the fact that nowhere on Earth is sheltered,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.
Like the rest of Australia, the Heard and McDonald Islands, the Cocos Islands (Keeling) and the Christmas island are now subject to a price of 10%. A 29% price was imposed on the island of Norfolk, which is also an Australian territory and has around 2,200 inhabitants.
The island understood, however, is sterile, icy and completely uninhabited – which houses the largest and the only active volcano in Australia, Big Ben, and mainly covered with glaciers.
It is believed that the last time people ventured to Hear Island was in 2016, when a group of amateur radio enthusiasts broadcast from there with permission from the Australian government.
Mike Coffin, from the University of Tasmania, has made the trip to the surrounding waters seven times to conduct scientific research, and is skeptical about the existence of major exports from the island to the United States.
“There is nothing there,” he told the BBC.
As long as he knows, there are only two Australian companies that catch and export fish of patagonia teeth and model fish.
What is in abundance, however, is a unique and spectacular nature.
Richard Arculus
Thousands of penguins live on the territory
The islands are listed by UNESCO World Heritage as a rare example of an intact ecosystem by external plants, animals or a human impact.
“It is strongly colonized by penguins and elephant seals and all kinds of sea birds,” said Professor Coffin, who studies the underwater geography of the islands.
He remembers observing from afar what he thought was a beach, only the sands “proved to be some 100,000 penguins”.
“Each time a ship goes there and observes it, there is lava flowing in the sides (from Big Ben),” he said, describing it sweeping the ice and sending vapor.
It is difficult to obtain a clear image of the commercial relationship between the Heard and McDonald Islands and the United States.
According to the World Bank export data, the islands, in recent years, have generally exported a small amount of products in the United States.
But in 2022, the United States imported US $ 1.4 million ($ 2.23 million;) from the territory, almost all of “machine and electric” products.
The American Department of Commerce of Commerce and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia were contacted for comments.
As with many governments around the world, prices have frustrated the leaders of Australia, the Albanians saying that they are “totally unjustified” and “not the act of a friend”.
