Editing Penguin Memes Take Flight After Trump Tariffs Remote Island

<br>A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs<br><br>Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and  [https://blogbossbabe.com/ drugs] white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.<br><br>One widely shared image on Thursday showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent row with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.<br><br>Another meme showed US First Lady Melania Trump gazing up at an emperor penguin -- in place of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- while Trump looks askance.<br><br>Trump's announcement of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday certainly received an icy reception in many countries.<br><br>But there has also been bafflement about why some of the most remote parts of the world have been targeted.<br><br>A case in point: why would Trump slap 10 percent tariffs on all exports from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory without a human population, but four different species of penguin?<br><br>"The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X.<br><br>"Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.<br><br>The White House said sanctions on Russia over President Vladimir Putin's war on meant that there was no "meaningful" trade on which to impose tariffs.<br><br>Trump also caused puzzlement with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a tiny Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little over 2,000 humans.<br><br>"I'm not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.<br><br>Britain's remote Falkland Islands -- home to one million penguins, and most famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to repel Argentinian invaders -- was hit by 41 percent exports even though the UK only faces 10 percent.<br><br>Trump's tariffs have however been no [https://www.msnbc.com/search/?q=laughing laughing] matter for global markets, with US stocks suffering their worst day since the [https://www.google.com/search?q=Covid%20pandemic&btnI=lucky Covid pandemic] in 2020.<br><br>