A global outburst of satire – from cartoons to memes and AI songs – is being generated in response to Trump’s tariffs
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Following his inauguration back in January, President Trump has made headlines week after week. From pulling out of the WHO and Paris Agreement, to his latest move of enforcing trade tariffs on almost every nation and territory worldwide, the US president’s actions have cast ripple effects across the world.
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The tone of the reactions to Trump have been varied. For some, in recent days, the response to new tariffs has been to protest. Known as the ‘Hands Off’ protests, these demonstrations are being held in all 50 states and in cities around the world, marking the largest show of opposition against the president since his return to the White House.
For others, however, Trump’s tariff announcement has prompted a more humorous reaction – whether it be a meme, a comedy skit or otherwise. Thanks to the internet, such responses can be circulated in a matter of minutes from one corner of the globe to another.
Read on to discover some of ways in which humour is being used to react to Trump tariffs across the world…
China’s ‘Look What You Taxed Us Through’
While some countries have solely released official statements in response to Trump tariffs, China has taken an extra step by sharing an AI-generated music video entitled ‘Look What You Taxed Us Through’ with lyrics that criticise Trump’s measures from the perspective of a US consumer.
Just under three minutes long, the AI music video features lyrics such as ‘groceries cost a kidney, gas a lung. Your ‘deals’? Just hot air from your tongue,’ alongside ‘tariffs hit, wallets quit: low-income families take the hardest blow.’ The song also makes reference to a ‘limping’ GDP.
Along with the music video, China has also released an AI sci-fi thriller short which, according to official state news agency XHNews, covers the ‘relentless weaponisation of tariffs by the US’.
In Trump’s latest measures, China was hit with an additional 34 per cent tariff on any goods entering the US, on top of the already existing 20 per cent tariff applicable to the nation.
Penguins on remote islands
Located around halfway between Australia and South Africa, Heard and McDonald Islands are uninhabited by humans but home to just four species of penguins. They were last visited by humans around 10 years ago, a journey that takes around two weeks via boat from Perth.
Consequently, Trump’s decision to put a 10 per cent trade tariff on all exports from Heard and McDonald Islands led to a variety of memes posted on social media earlier this week.
It wasn’t just these desolate islands hit by Trump’s tariffs: others include the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen – northeast of Iceland – with populations of seals vastly outnumbering the humans there, alongside Norfolk Island.
In the days following his announcement, it was revealed such measures may have been carried out using data that mistakenly attributed shipments as coming from the territories rather than their original locations.
Cartoons across the globe
Cartoonists for major outlets including The Guardian and The Economist have provided their own takes on Trump’s tariffs and their subsequent impacts.
Since the announcement last week, the US stock market has experienced its worst week since 2020; while in the UK, the FTSE100 has fallen by almost 5 per cent. From stock markets plummeting to reverberating impacts on global trade relations, the satirical cartoons depicted below offer a glimpse into the economic and political fallout of tariffs.
