President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping tariffs that encompass Heard and McDonald Islands—Australian external territories near Antarctica that are completely uninhabited, save for some penguins.
It’s a safe bet to say that the U.S. won’t be receiving any tariff revenue from the islands anytime soon. But the image of penguins paying tariffs has quickly become fodder for anti-tariff memes on social media.
“The Penguins getting ready for a military strike in retaliation for the tariffs,” joked one person, along with an image of the penguins from the film “Madagascar.”
“Does he really think he can take on penguins in a tariff war and win? Those guys don’t mess around,” quipped someone else with an image of the notorious Feathers McGraw from “Wallace and Gromit.”
Other posters shared AI-generated images of Trump with penguins to make their point.
“The penguins are going to pay for what they did to our country. Believe me,” captioned one such post.
Another featured a penguin paying a penguin-bling-wearing Trump $300.
“No one is safe, not even the penguins,” the content creator joked.
Another person grabbed a meme from “The Sopranos” to highlight criticism of the proposed tariffs.
“‘In this house we tariff the freaking penguins. They’re free-loaders. They haven’t bought an American good in years. Frankly, they deserve it,’” the user captioned the meme.
Even Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s short-lived White House Director of Communications-turned-MAGA critic, got in on the mockery.
“The penguins have been ripping us off for years,” he quipped on Wednesday.
Trump’s latest tariff announcement will impact more than 180 countries and territories, which Trump argues are necessary because of trade deficits “hollowing out of our manufacturing base” and undermining key supply chains.
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