President Trump’s Commerce Secretary was left visibly stunned while defending the administration’s far-reaching tariff policies, which have been met with ridicule and market panic.
During a tense exchange on Face The Nation, CBS anchor Margaret Brennan questioned the logic behind imposing tariffs on obscure regions like the Heard and McDonald Islands—remote territories inhabited solely by penguins and with no trade relationship with the U.S.
“Why are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which don’t export anything to the United States and are quite literally inhabited by penguins, facing a 10 percent tariff?” Brennan asked pointedly. “Did you use AI to generate this list?”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded with a nervous laugh, attempting to justify the administration’s blanket approach.
“If you leave any place off, countries that try to cheat the system just reroute through them,” he claimed. Brennan cut in:
“Through the Heard Islands?” Lutnick maintained that President Trump’s strategy is designed to close every possible loophole, citing China’s past efforts to bypass tariffs through other nations. “The president knows this and wants to shut it down,” he said.
The exchange immediately went viral, sparking a wave of internet memes featuring angry penguins negotiating trade deals with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. On CNN, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also faced scrutiny over the issue.
When asked by Jake Tapper why tariffs were targeting uninhabited islands, she rolled her eyes and replied dismissively, “I mean, come on. Whatever.” She added, “The bottom line is we’ve let other countries take advantage of us for too long.”
Tapper responded, “But the penguins haven’t imposed any tariffs on the United States.”
Rollins doubled down, saying, “The people leading this are intentional, patriotic, and smart. I didn’t create the formulas.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street is bracing for more turmoil. Stock futures have plunged across the board, suggesting that last week’s $6.6 trillion market wipeout may have been just the start.
Futures for the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 dropped between 4.2 and 6 percent late Sunday night, while early trading in Asia saw Japan’s Nikkei crash over 8 percent, with Australia and South Korea also posting steep losses.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer warned of a possible repeat of the 1987 Black Monday crash if the administration doesn’t ease off its aggressive tariff strategy.
That historic crash saw the Dow drop 22.6 percent in a single day—the largest one-day loss in history.
Despite the chaos, President Trump remained upbeat, claiming world leaders are “dying to make a deal.” But for now, investors and analysts are watching nervously, hoping the penguin tariff saga doesn’t end in financial disaster.
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