Penguins have flippers, not elbows. But if anyone knows about the grace and intensity required to successfully navigate the ice, it is the penguins. I am not talking about Sidney Crosby’s Penguins of Pittsburg, Pa., although they do a great job, but the penguins who know more about ice and snow than the rest of us presumptuous humans. So, if anyone is sympathetic to the Canadian response, “Elbows Up,” to American arrogance, it is the penguins of Antarctica.
All the more so since Donald Trump inexplicably included the penguins of the Heard and McDonald Islands among the targets in his ever-escalating damaging tariff trade wars. It is bad enough that he is going after our friends in Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Asia with exorbitant fees, but why punish the penguins when they make and send absolutely nothing our way?
It didn’t take long for the press to highlight his disturbingly idiosyncratic decision to punish the penguins. Of the administration’s long list of the countries to be taxed, Lori Comstock of USA Today wrote:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday unleashed a fury of tariffs on about 60 countries during his ‘Liberation Day’ event, wielding a poster-sized chart that was later listed in full on the White House social media page. But scanning the official list during the pomp and circumstance of the Rose Garden event, Americans were left scratching their heads as a few small remote islands, including the unfamiliar Heard and McDonald Islands, seemingly made the cut.
Lori Comstock continues:
Outside the White House Wednesday, Trump announced a 10% base line tariff on imports from all foreign countries, as well as much-higher, so-called reciprocal actions on about 60 other countries. He has hailed the tariffs, which affect all U.S. trading partners and imports, as a ‘declaration of economic independence,’ arguing that it will help correct decades of what he said has been unfair treatment to Americans.
Touting he is ‘putting America first,’ Trump argues the tariffs will rejuvenate the nation’s declining manufacturing sector, but many economists worry Trump’s imposition of his largest-scale tariffs to date could further weaken the economy. As stocks tumbled Thursday and several countries warned of retaliation and threat of a global trade war, what was the word from the remote Heard and McDonald Islands? …
The Heard Island and McDonald Islands — which consist of McDonald Island, Flat Island and Meyer Rock — are located in the Indian Ocean, about halfway between Australia and South Africa, and about 1,056 miles north of Antarctica. In total, the islands are 144 square feet in size — about twice the size of Washington, D.C. Heard Island is 80% covered in ice, ‘bleak’ and features a large compact group of mountains, called Big Ben, which has an active volcano called Mawson Peak, according to the CIA. It last erupted in May 2023.
So stunning was the Trumpian decision to penalize the penguins that even the prestigious Scientific American commented:
Among the barrage of tariffs announced by U.S. president Donald Trump on Wednesday were those imposed (bafflingly to many) on a collection of remote, pristine and storm-battered islands with no human inhabitants: their main denizens are penguins and seals … The islands receive frequent rain, snow and other precipitation, along with strong winds, because of their latitude. Cloud cover is common …
Scientific American explains:
These are also the only sub-Antarctic islands that have remained nearly free of nonnative species and have seen minimal effects from humans. This means they have enormous conservation value. There are no human settlements on the islands, and they are managed as a nature reserve by the Australian government. The islands’ populations of marine birds and mammals number in the millions, according to UNESCO. They host major breeding populations of elephant and fur seals, petrels, albatrosses and penguins … Heard Island’s glaciers are relatively shallow and fast-moving. They have responded to rising global temperatures more quickly than glaciers elsewhere, retreating significantly in recent years, according to UNESCO …
[Emphasis added.]
Soon the plight of the penguins captured the world’s attention. Even the Rupert Murdoch-owned, staunchly conservative Wall Street Journal weighed in on the state of Trumpian decision-making:
Some of the most remote parts of the world were swept up in Trump’s tariffs, sparking questions about how his administration concluded it was being cheated by places few even knew existed. That includes a French overseas territory perched a few miles off the coast of Canada. The fact it produces very little is a running joke in France and was the very subject of an April Fools’ segment on French state TV. Those in the administration’s crosshairs include Nauru, one of the world’s smallest countries with a population of around 11,000. The tariffs also hit some places that aren’t technically countries, including the frozen Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and La Reunion, a piece of France located in the Indian Ocean. Some targets are only inhabited by animals. Heard Island and McDonald Islands, a territory of Australia, are home to penguins and not much else.
Naturally, the Canadians couldn’t resist. The CBC put it this way:
‘Tariff the seagulls?’ These are the remote islands on Trump’s tariff list, and what they export. Hit list includes some of the most remote, smallest territories in the world … An uninhabited Antarctic outpost populated by penguins. One of the smallest economies in the world. An Arctic archipelago with more polar bears than people.
CBC News wrote:
To quote Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, it really does appear that ‘nowhere on Earth is safe’ from U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Trump rattled markets, manufacturers and more Wednesday announcing a baseline of 10 per cent tariffs on imports into the United States — and far higher on goods from some places, notably those with high trade surpluses with the States. In enforcing his steep and broad tariffs, analysts have suggested Trump has upended the global order. But to many observers, the most puzzling aspect of Trump’s list was that it included some of the most remote and smallest territories and islands in the world. Places that, in some cases, are largely inhabited by penguins. Like Australia’s Heard and McDonald Islands in the sub-Antarctic region, one of the most remote places on earth, and which, according to the Australian government website, have only been visited by humans about 242 times since 1855.
[Emphasis added.]
The Sydney, Australia, bureau of the BBC added:
Two tiny, remote Antarctic outposts populated by penguins and seals are among the obscure places targeted by the Trump administration’s new tariffs. Heard and McDonald Islands – a territory which sits 4,000km (2,485 miles) south-west of Australia – are only accessible via a seven-day boat trip from Perth, and haven’t been visited by humans in almost a decade.
[Emphasis added.]
The BBC noted:
Australian trade minister Don Farrell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the tariffs were ‘clearly a mistake … Poor old penguins, I don’t know what they did to Trump, but, look, I think it’s an indication, to be honest with you, that this was a rushed process.’
Having served in the past as the human, non-penguin communications liaison for Penguins United, I can only imagine the growing penguin disappointment, perhaps outrage, that climate-change-denying America, responsible for such a large percentage of the carbon emissions that threaten their livelihood, has again chosen to make penguin lives worse, not better.
Sadly, Donald Trump’s steadfast and stubborn refusal to acknowledge the obvious evidence of the climate crisis—most recently, the fierce storms ravaging American coastal communities, and the epidemic of brutal forest fires—is matched by the carelessness and obliviousness of his nonsensical tariff list. Meanwhile, the world has taken but a moment or two from considering the economic devastation of his attack on the global economy to focus on the penguins, the undeserving victims of the very same human irresponsibility that underlies so much of what Trump does.
As for me, desperately looking for some small relief from the gathering tragedies of Trumpian authoritarianism, I was proud to purchase a Flippers Up T-shirt on Amazon. Because like the millions of Americans who took to their streets on Saturday, April 5, 2025, I believe in standing up for what is right. And I am glad to see the penguins unite in the face of this unprovoked attack. Having corresponded with a few penguins, I am pretty sure that had they, in fact, possessed elbows, like their ice-loving, hockey-addicted brothers and sisters of Canada, those elbows would be up. But since they don’t, they are offering the clearest sign of their solidarity and determination to resist. For penguin nation, it is Flippers Up:
Now, I know that it can sometimes seem like such a long time ago that Republicans, much of the mainstream press, and even a decent percentage of Democrats were convinced that Joe Biden’s grip on his memory and mental capacity was slipping, to the point where he might not be capable of doing the job if he won another term. Yet, for all his problems, Joe Biden never blamed the penguins for our trade deficit.
But you might ask yourself: Aren’t the Trumpian 10 percent tariffs on the innocent penguins of the Heard and McDonald Islands a flashing red light? Perhaps, an indication that the most powerful man in the world, he who with but a brief finger twitch on the nuclear button could obliterate us all is no longer in full possession of the mental capacities necessary to govern sensibly.
It is becoming more and more evident that the rest of the world is so much more concerned with his behavior than so many Americans. Yes, those many, many millions who said no to Biden but yes to Trump, the so many who have been suffering the effects of MAGA fever for far too many years.
Travel just a bit north, for example, to our Canadian friends and neighbors up north. These new tariffs only add to the insane recurring provocations Trump has recently leveled their way: the obsessive taunts and threats to make Canada the 51st state, blaming our fentanyl and immigration problems on them, and Trump’s juvenile attempts to mock and diminish Justin Trudeau by calling him mayor. But like bullies everywhere, Trump has only inspired unanimity. Mark Carney, whose Liberal Party was in deep trouble and thought to be in danger of losing to the Maple MAGA Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, has subsequently surged in response to his consistent support of Canadian pride and patriotism. Winning the hearts of a majority of Canadians through his unwavering willingness to stand up against Donald Trump.
A former hockey player, Carney and Canadians across the country have turned to their beloved sport for the inspiring slogan “Elbows Up.” Like the best of hockey players, required to instantaneously switch from defense to offense, Canadians have declared to all the world that they will fight to the end for their independence.
The CBC’s Alistair Steele wrote about the deep appeal of their new slogan:
When Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers, clad in a ‘Canada is not for sale’ T-shirt, twice mouthed the words ‘elbows up’ and tapped his own left elbow on Saturday Night Live last weekend, he was sending a not-so-subtle signal to his compatriots north of the border: Get ready for a fight.
Facing punishing tariffs on Canadian exports and repeated jibes from U.S. President Donald Trump about their country becoming the 51st state, Canadians were understandably riled. ‘Elbows up’ became the rallying cry they’d been looking for. Weeks earlier, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew had warned Canada ‘can’t be a punching bag, and we have to get our elbows up’ in the face of threatened tariffs. At protests across the country this week, including one on Tuesday outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canadians chanted the slogan and scrawled it across their placards. #ElbowsUp appeared all over social media, as both a call to arms and a warning to our increasingly bellicose neighbours that Canadians may be polite, but we’re no pushovers.
In hockey-loving Canada, the phrase automatically evokes memories of one of the game’s greatest players, Saskatchewan-born Gordie Howe, who before becoming Mr. Hockey had earned another nickname: Mr. Elbows. Unfailingly humble, generous and gentlemanly off the ice, Howe would wield his elbows like weapons when battling for the puck. ‘If a guy slashed me, I’d grab his stick, pull him up alongside me and elbow him in the head,’ Howe once said, describing his favourite method of retribution.
CBC described this March 9, 2025 rally in Ottawa:
The CBC wrote:
Hundreds of people clad in red and white and hoisting Canadian flags descended on Parliament Hill Sunday to voice their frustration with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Sunday’s ‘Elbows Up, Canada!’ rally was held in the midst of Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on Canadian goods and his talk of annexation …
Canadian anger quickly turned to action. As the Vancouver Sun headline noted, individual Canadians decided to send a message to Washington:
Cross-border travel from B.C. to Washington state plummets. Data shows number of people who travelled to Washington state fell by a third in February and half in March compared to the same months last year … British Columbians aren’t visiting Washington state very much these days … Just over 121,000 vehicles with B.C. plates crossed the border in March, compared with 216,000 in March 2024.
In an article entitled “A hostile state: Why some travellers are avoiding the US,” the BBC notes:
As President Donald Trump implements sweeping new policies, issues tariffs on longtime allies and leads an immigration crackdown, some international travellers are rethinking their travel plans to the US. The nation’s stricter border enforcement has recently led to the detention of Canadian and European tourists, prompting Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland and Portugal to issue travel warnings and advisories for the country. Now, it appears that a growing number of voices are advocating for an all-out boycott of travel to the US.
The cold shoulder has been particularly noticeable from the US’s northern neighbour, Canada, which sends more than 20 million visitors to the country per year – more than any other nation. In response to Trump’s proposed tariffs and repeated threats to annex the nation, former prime minister Justin Trudeau recently urged his fellow Canadians: ‘Now is the time to choose Canada,’ adding, ‘it might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada.’
The appeal seems to have caught on, as many infuriated Canadians are now boycotting US holidays. In February, border crossings were down by more than 20%, according to Statistics Canada. The US Travel Association estimates that even a 10% reduction in Canadian visitors could result in $2.1bn in lost spending and 14,000 job losses …
The change in travel patterns is already having a tangible effect on the US economy. Tourism Economics recently updated its inbound US travel forecast from a predicted 8.8% growth, to a 5.1% decline, attributing the change to ‘strained’ travel sentiment, ‘sweeping tariffs’ and ‘exchange rate shifts’ making travel to the US more expensive. ‘The combination of travel bans and a reduction of US travel could have a material impact on tourism and economic development,’ said Jeff Le, former deputy cabinet secretary for the State of California and the state’s federal coordinator during the first Trump Administration.
Christina Jelski of Travel Weekly added this perspective:
What many hoped might be just a temporary dip in Canadian travel to the U.S. is now showing signs of a bona fide boycott, as the Canadian backlash to tariffs and other political tensions with the U.S. intensifies. On March 26, aviation data company OAG said that GDS passenger bookings on Canada-U.S. routes are currently down by more than 70% every month through September, compared to the same period last year. In February, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians made 1.2 million return trips by car from the U.S., a 23% decline from the same month last year.
Jelski continued:
Broader impacts, said McKenzie McMillan, a luxury consultant and supplier relations manager with Vancouver-based The Travel Group, are materializing, after at first seeing a few cancellations. ‘The bigger issue has been future bookings,’ he said. ‘They’ve cratered completely. We’ve had zero leisure travel requests for the U.S. through our whole agency.’ McMillan said some corporate travel continues, but leisure trips to destinations like Phoenix and Southern California have ‘completely shut down.’
This is now all about Canadian pride and determination to assert their love for and allegiance to their independence. Back to the Vancouver Sun:
David Blandford, executive director of State of Washington Tourism, said in an email that he is hearing reports of Canadian travellers changing their plans ‘due to the current political situation. As our top international market, Canadian visitors play a vital role in our tourism economy,’ Blandford said.
The Sun continues:
Canada is the largest source of international visitors to the U.S., according to the U.S. Travel Association … With over 2.3 million B.C. cars crossing the border into Washington state each year in 2023 and 2024, a lengthy travel boycott could severely impact tourism in the state. Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund said in February that her office had received many messages from British Columbians stating they had cancelled upcoming vacations and changed their shopping habits. ‘It’s regrettable,’ the mayor said at the time. ‘Regardless of what’s coming out of the other Washington, I know this Washington — and Bellingham in particular — feels an incredible closeness, and values our connections and connectedness to each other. I hope we can continue to maintain close ties. I want to reach out and affirm our connections and say how much we value our neighbours to the north.’
The recent Trumpian tariffs—not only on the penguins and most of the world, excluding interestingly enough Russia and North Korea—have only strengthened Canadian resistance. On April 2, 2025, The Toronto Globe and Mail reported on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s response to the Trump’s tariff war:
The Toronto Globe and Mail wrote:
Canada will fight with ‘purpose and force’ against the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday, warning that tariffs will harm the global economy and affect millions of Canadians and Americans. Even though the U.S. President excluded Canada from new reciprocal tariffs that he imposed on global trading partners, he kept steep import levies on Canadian steel, aluminum, and vehicles and auto parts … And while he acknowledged that Canada avoided some of the new global tariffs, Mr. Carney nonetheless said U.S. tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum will cause economic hardship and warned that the Trump administration is also expected to target Canadian lumber, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. ‘The series of measures will directly affect millions of Canadians. We are going to fight the tariffs with countermeasures. We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7,’ he told reporters. ‘In a crisis it is important to come together and it is essential to act with purpose and force.’
Mr. Carney, who has made the fight against Mr. Trump’s America First agenda the centrepiece of his federal campaign, said the U.S. action against its global trading partners will trigger economic havoc around the world and in North America. ‘President Trump has just announced a series of measures that are going to fundamentally change the international trading system,’ he said. ‘We are in a situation where there is going to be an impact on the U.S. economy which will build in time and in my judgment will be negative on the U.S. economy. That will have an impact on us.’
‘Mr. Trump’s executive order kept in place the 25-per-cent tariff on steel and aluminum. A 25-per-cent levy on made-in-Canada automobiles is still intact too, and as before this only covers the part of the vehicle that is not compliant with United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement rules.
The same goes for the 25-per-cent tariff on most goods, which was applied after Mr. Trump alleged that Canada is a significant source of illegal fentanyl smuggled into the United States. Since early March these levies have also been lifted for all goods that comply with USMCA. On Wednesday, the White House confirmed that these exemptions have been extended.
The next day Carney expanded on these remarks, signaling his belief that the Liberation Day round of tariffs had changed the relationships between the United States, Canada, and much of the world:
The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday. The system of global trade anchored on the United States, that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War — a system that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades — is over. Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over. The eighty-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership — when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, and championed the free and open exchange of good and services — is over. While this is a tragedy, it is also the new reality.
I envy the Canadians. And while I probably don’t agree with some of Mark Carney’s political thinking, I am extraordinarily impressed with his honest appraisal of the damage Donald Trump is doing to the world at large and here at home. We are all of us caught up in a spiraling, out-of-control war not of our own making. Why are we so recklessly making enemies of friends? Why are we taunting and provoking the Chinese who make so much of what we have come to rely upon?
On April 9, 2025, The New York Times offered this view of the latest developments:
President Trump’s latest tariffs took effect just after midnight on Wednesday, hitting nearly all U.S. allies with punishing new levies and raising import taxes on Chinese goods to more than 100 percent. China hit back with its own levies, which will kick in at noon Eastern, and the European Union was poised to approve a plan to retaliate for Mr. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The flurry of moves has heightened fears that the trade war could lead to a global recession.
Losses have mounted in stock markets around the world since Mr. Trump announced this latest round of tariffs last week, and the tumult has started spreading to government bonds, which are traditionally seen as safe havens in times of uncertainty. Yields rise when investors sell bonds, which can reflect worries about inflation, shifts away from U.S. dollar assets or a need for investors to raise cash to cover losses on other trades.
Rising yields push up the cost of borrowing for mortgages, credit cards, business loans and many other rates, an unwelcome development for the Trump administration, which has made reducing rates a priority, since cheaper debt supports economic growth. Asian markets slumped again on Wednesday, and stocks in Europe also fell in early trading. France’s CAC 40 index plunged, wiping out its gains since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post signaled what just one of these arbitrary decisions might mean for innocent American consumers:
President Donald Trump on April 8 remained defiant on tariffs and said ‘major’ tariffs on pharmaceutical imports were coming ‘very shortly.’ … Shares in drug makers suffered in particular, after Trump said he would announce a ‘major tariff on pharmaceuticals’ while speaking Tuesday night at a Republican Party dinner in Washington. Companies such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Roche, Sanofi, Novartis and Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, producer of weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, saw their share prices shed between 5 and 7 percent in European markets early Wednesday.
At a time when more Americans than ever are finding it more difficult to pay for their healthcare and prescription drugs continue to rise, it is unconscionable that Trump is making a dreadful problem even worse.
The headline “Nowhere is Safe” could easily be changed to “No One Is Safe.” As for hoping Donald Trump comes to his senses, there is this report from The Washington Post:
The Post writes:
As the markets dropped, Trump putted … The stock markets have lost more than $6 trillion in value since President Donald Trump’s decision to upend the global economic order and impose sweeping tariffs last week. Americans have lost retirement savings. Business leaders are bracing to lose customers and revenue. But on Sunday, the president won. Trump said he took first in the Senior Club Championship at his golf club here. ‘It’s good to win,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One. ‘You heard I won, right?’
The president’s victory came as the nation’s markets grapple with the most significant financial bet of his presidency: his belief that sweeping tariffs will strengthen the U.S. economy. Economists have warned the resulting trade war and higher prices could send the nation into a deep recession.
It is fair to say Donald Trump lives in a world of his own where it is fine we and the world might have lost as a result of his chaos. But in his universe, in his golf tournament, he is a perpetual winner.
His decision in response to the disturbing drop in the bond market to call for a 90-day pause in his latest Liberation Day raises is only the latest in his constantly vacillating, unpredictable policy shifts. And only he knows—and he probably doesn’t know—what comes next.
For the moment, I guess you could say that the penguins won as well. Their tariffs remained at a measly 10 percent while China’s soared to 125 percent. Unfortunately for American consumers, second only to what we get from Mexico, we buy a lot more stuff from China than from the penguins—$429 billion worth of phones and toys and appliances and clothes and shoes.
And so it is probably time we all joined the Canadians in proclaiming “Elbows Up.” As for me, I am proud to declare “Flippers Up.”
