Politics
Penguins and polar bears outnumber people in some tariff-hit territories – National TenX News
Some of the world’s least inhabited islands and territories have been hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on all foreign trading partners — and some appear to have more penguins and polar bears than trade agreements with the U.S.
Tiny tropical islands and remote outposts in the Antarctic and far North were included in the list of dozens of countries and territories that now face a baseline tariff of 10 per cent. Some of the outlier targets face far higher tariffs, based on calculated trade deficits with the U.S., leaving world leaders scratching their heads.
“Nowhere on Earth is exempt from this,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose country includes many of the territories caught up in Trump’s tariffs, told reporters Wednesday.
None of the territories listed below were included in the National Trade Estimate report on foreign trade barriers from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s office, released Monday.
The Trump administration has pointed to the report’s findings to justify the new global tariff policy, which is also based on a national emergency on foreign trade that Trump declared in his executive order Wednesday.
“President Trump is taking urgent action to protect the national security and economy of the United States,” Greer said in a statement. “The current lack of trade reciprocity, demonstrated by our chronic trade deficit, has weakened our economic and national security.”
Here are just some of the targets of Trump’s trade war that are raising eyebrows:
Heard and McDonald Islands – 10% tariff
This Australian territory comprises two islands in the remote Antarctic that is uninhabited by people, other than temporary Australian scientific expeditions. A permanent research station on Heard Island was closed in 1954.
The islands are home to penguins and seals and are about a two-week sail from the Australian mainland.
Despite hardly any actual trade with the U.S. — government data shows no imports from the islands last year — the territory faces the 10 per cent baseline tariff.
The CIA World Factbook says economic activity on the islands effectively ended in 1877, when elephant seal oil trade ended after the local seal population was nearly killed off.
Three tropical coral islands in the South Pacific make up the New Zealand territory of Tokelau, home to 1,500 people.
It primarily survives on subsistence agriculture, meaning hardly any crops are exported, as well as fishing.
Trade in goods with the U.S. amounted to roughly US$500,000 last year, according to U.S. government data. “Economic opportunities in Tokelau are sparse,” the CIA World Factbook says.
Global trade data compiled by the Observatory of Economic Complexity shows the U.S. is near the bottom of the territory’s export and import markets.
Christmas Island – 10% tariff
The Australian outpost in the Indian Ocean — located 360 kilometres south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, with a population of fewer than 2,000 people — has used U.S. heavy machinery to mine phosphate for decades.
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“There’s no trade between Christmas Island and America, except that we do buy mining equipment through Tractors Singapore,” said Christmas Island Shire President Gordon Thomson, referring to the regional dealer for the Texas manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc.
“The trade, if anything, is U.S. product into Christmas Island. The only thing that we export is phosphate and that goes to Malaysia, Indonesia, maybe Thailand and a bit to the Australian mainland,” Thomson said.
In 2023, the U.S. exported US$49 million in American goods to Christmas Island, while importing just US$4.4 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — an outlier year in a trade relationship that is otherwise relatively small.
Svalbard and Jan Mayen – 10% tariff
The Trump administration lumped together Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago home to about 2,500 people, and Jan Mayen, a volcanic island 1,100 kilometres away, in its tariff list and imposed a 10 per cent levy on the combined territory.
Jan Mayen is completely uninhabited, other than a combined Norwegian military and meteorological research outpost and a local population of polar bears, and is partially covered by glaciers.
The Norwegian military’s main role there is to oversee Norway’s claim to sovereignty over the island.
U.S. Census data shows the U.S. has actually had a longstanding trade surplus with Svalbard and Jan Mayen for years, exporting far more than it imports.
The most the U.S. has imported from the territory in the past five years is around US$100,000.
British Indian Ocean Territory – 10% tariff
This overseas British territory comprises over 1,000 individual islands in the Chagos Archipelago between Indonesia and Tanzania, with a combined area of just 60 square kilometres.
The largest island, Diego Garcia, is home to a joint U.K.-U.S. military base and 4,000 British and American troops, but the territory has zero permanent residents.
U.S. government data shows millions of dollars of American goods are exported to the territory every year — likely military equipment — with far less goods imported in return.
Cocos (Keeling) Islands – 10% tariff
Another Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, this one is made up of two atolls with a combined total of 27 coral islands, with less than 600 people calling it home.
It primarily relies on tourism, and most food and other necessities are imported from Australia, yet the U.S. is a top export market for shipbuilding.
Two-way trade in goods amounts to roughly US$3 million a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Falkland Islands – 41% tariff
Long disputed between the United Kingdom and Argentina — including a military conflict in the 1980s — the Falkland Islands is home to roughly 3,600 people in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
It relies mostly on fishing, agriculture and tourism for its economy, and wool from its sheep farming sector is a top export.
The Trump administration claims the territory’s tariffs, trade barriers and “currency manipulation” amounts to an 82 per cent tax on U.S. imports, leading it to impose a 41 per cent tariff in return.
The U.S. has reported a trade goods deficit with the Falkland Islands for years.
Last year it imported US$18.7 million more in goods than it exported, down from a US$31.2 million deficit two years prior.
Norfolk Island – 29% tariff
This Pacific island, another Australian territory with a population of around 2,000 people, also received more severe tariff treatment with a 29 per cent levy.
That’s based on what the Trump administration claims is a total 58 per cent extra charge on U.S. goods.
The island’s economy primarily revolves around tourism, and most of its minimal agricultural exports are to Europe. Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the separate, higher tariff for an Australian territory “was somewhat unexpected and a bit strange.”
“To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States,” Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian government’s representative on the island, told the AP.
“We don’t charge tariffs on anything. I can’t think of any non-tariff barriers that would be in place either, so we’re scratching our heads here.”
Norfolk Island business owners who spoke with Reuters could think of no manufacturing industry on the island.
According to U.S. government data, two-way trade with Norfolk Island amounted to less than $US1.5 million over the past three years combined.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon – 50% tariff
According to the Trump administration, this French overseas territory right next to Newfoundland and Labrador with a population around 5,000 people tariffs U.S. goods at a 99 per cent rate — justifying a 50 per cent tariff, one of the highest rates on the entire list released Wednesday.
The archipelago of eight small islands relies on fishing exports and tourism for its economy.
Besides a US$3.4 million import of goods from the territory in July 2024, trade with the U.S. is minimal, U.S. government data shows.
—With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
Politics
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
The U.K. has barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair over growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The decision does not cover representatives of Israeli defense contractors, who will be allowed to attend the DSEI UK exhibition, scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in London. The event was formerly known as Defense and Security Equipment International.
“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” the British government said in a statement. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
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The decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to end the crisis in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to a long-term peace agreement. Britain previously barred sales to Israel of any arms that could be used in the nearly 23-month war in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the decision was based on politics and “serves extremists.”
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the ministry said.
The Israeli ministry said it would withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war groups have announced plans to for protests during DSEI, which will take place at the Excel center in east London.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive against Hamas, an official said Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The decision was likely to bring more condemnation of Israel’s government as frustration grows in the country and abroad over dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids. The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
A ‘massive population movement’ coming
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. Israel’s military Saturday evening said it had struck a key Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, with no details.
In recent days, Israel’s military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from almost daily ones. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.
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“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City can be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Killed while seeking food
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, were the bodies were taken.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood killed 12 people including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told the AP, and a strike on the Rimal neighborhood killed seven.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed, as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah on Friday.
“The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he added.
Israelis rally again to demand a ceasefire deal
Israelis waited to hear the identity of the remains of a hostage that Israel on Friday said had been recovered in Gaza. It also said it recovered the remains of hostage Ilan Weiss.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel had believed 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
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