US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs announcement on Wednesday (April 2) not only targeted economic superpowers but also financially weaker countries. In fact, some territories with no economy, and no people were also hit by the tariffs announced by Trump. The Heard and McDonald Islands near Antarctica, home only to seals and penguins also had to bear the brunt of the tariffs.

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The 10 per cent tariff announcement on external Australian territory inhabited by only penguins has led to a meme feast on the Internet.

One of the widely shared meme shows a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent verbal spat with the US president Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

"The penguin wore a suit. But didn’t escape the Trump tarifs on the Heard og McDonald Islands. Maybe it didn’t say thank you?," read the caption of the post shared on X by @CArzrouni.

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"unprecedented protests this morning on heard and macdonald islands, as the population rises up against trump imposition of 10% across the board tariffs," wrote another user sharing the meme.

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A third user wrote, "I stand with the penguins of Heard Island and McDonald Islands."

While a fourth wrote, "Comedy of the centurycTrade war with #penguins? #Trump hits 10% tariff on Heard and McDonald Islands near Antarctica with 0% human population. So Penguins Need To Pay With Fish and Shrimp They Got?"

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an Australian external territory in the southern Indian Ocean was hit with a 10 per cent tariff by Trump. The islands is uninhabited and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 80 per cent of Heard Island is covered in ice. While, the McDonald Islands is described as “small” and “rocky", according to CIA World Factbook, reported CNN.

Economic activity ended here in 1877 after trade in elephant seal oil stopped and the human population of sealers moved to other places leaving the islands located en route from Madagascar to Antarctica uninhabited.