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Comment by ceejayoz

5 days ago

I assure you the US did not import $1.3M worth of machinery from an uninhabited island.

It's a data error. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/04/revea...

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ceejayoz

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Amezarak  5 days ago

I don’t think anyone is claiming there’s secret industry on the islands. But a “data error” is probably understating it, that is what did actually appear on the bills of lading. Whether it was a bizarre innocent mistake or sort of some kind of financial scheme is unclear.

  • ceejayoz  5 days ago

    My strong suspicion is someone misclicked a select box in a form somewhere.

    • Amezarak  5 days ago

      Maybe. That’s clearly the likely case for Norfolk.

      Do you know if tariffs are assessed based on the country of origin in the bill of lading? The Guardian article doesn’t answer that question. I’d suspect so since that’s how everyone is counting imports and exports, but the Guardian article isn’t clear.