Penguins targeted by Trump tariffs now have a social media account – because of course they do

US president Donald Trump’s new slate of tariffs has sparked economic turmoil and spooked the markets, and in amongst the chaos, people realised the Republican has slapped tariffs on an Australian territory with no human inhabitants – just penguins and seals.

Known as Heard Island and McDonald Islands, they’re among the most remote places on Earth, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from placing a 10 per cent tariff on goods bound for America.

Putting aside the fact that penguins and seals are incapable of carrying out exports, the islands are only accessible by a two-week boat trip from Perth, on the west coast of Australia.

And now, the penguins are fighting back – well, in the form of a social media account, because that’s how the internet works.

Already boasting more than 72,000 followers on Threads at the time of writing, the account @PenguinsAgainstTrump claims to be manned – or rather, penguinned – by a group of the flightless birds living on the island.

“Not sure why we’re being tariffed. We love fish and hate fascists,” their bio reads.

Their posts have been just as popular, too.

One reads: “What are you going to do, deport us? We’ve been dealing with ICE for centuries.”

Phenomenal.

The account has also thanked former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz “for noticing the struggles of the average penguin”, after the Minnesota governor joked that Trump has “picked an adversary he thinks he can beat: an island of penguins”.

Twitter/X users have loved the gags too:

One branded it “brilliant” and suggested that they should be the ones “responsible for monetary policy”:

You could say the account is ‘flipping the bird’ at Trump’s tariffs...

Sorry.

Why not read…

• Obama praised as he calls out Trump's double standards: 'Imagine if I had done any of this'
• Kamala Harris’s repeated warnings of 'recession' under Trump resurface amid global tariffs

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