Not that Norfolk! Mislabelled shipments led to Trump tariffs on uninhabited islands and remote outposts with no US trade

Tariffs imposed on tiny Australian territories that are either uninhabited or claim to have no trading relationship with the US appear to have been calculated based on erroneous trade data.

The data relates, at least in part, to shipments mislabelled as coming from remote Norfolk Island , or Heard Island and McDonald Islands , instead of their correct countries of origin, the Guardian can reveal.

Norfolk Island was this week hit with a 29% tariff on its goods 19 percentage points higher than the rest of Australia .

Journalists and economists have figured out the method used by the Trump administration to calculate tariffs placed on other countries and territories.

It is a simple formula which produces a tariff percentage based on the country's trade deficit with the US in 2024 .

The Guardian has confirmed that this formula produces the 29% figure using US trade data for Norfolk Island .

Heard Island and McDonald Islands an uninhabited group of islands covered in glaciers near Antarctica was also named in the White House’s list of “countries” hit by tariffs.