CBS’ Margaret Brennan Grills Trump Commerce Secretary on How Penguins Got Slapped With Tariffs: ‘Did You Use AI To Generate This?’

CBS anchor Margaret Brennan challenged Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over how the Trump administration’s sweeping new tariff policy targeted remote territories such as the Heard and McDonald Islands on Sunday.

On Face The Nation, Brennan pointed out the islands were targeted by President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs despite not having a permanent population and being mostly inhabited by penguins.

Brennan noted mounting criticism of the White House’s blanket approach to tariffs, which Lutnick defended as essential to “national security.”

The anchor then challenged claims by the White House that the new tariffs are truly reciprocal.

The CBS anchor then noted Trump has said in recent days that he has fielded calls from world leaders who want to come to the negotiating table.

Lutnick replied, “I’ll give you an example, like Vietnam said they’d like to be zero-zero. Remember, Vietnam sends us $120 billion worth of goods every year.”

After the two spoke over one another, Brennan said, “I know but we don’t have zero-zero, sir.” She continued:

We don’t have zero-zero actually, because when we saw the president stand in the Rose Garden holding up that chart that you helped make, that – that wasn’t actually tariffs. That was actually confusing to investors, because it was some kind of other formula, and the countries themselves seemed kind of random.

She asked Lutnick, “Like, why are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which don’t export to the United States and are quite literally inhabited by penguins, why do they face a 10% tariff? Did you use AI to generate this?”

Lutnick laughed off the question and explained exempting any country or territory left the US open to bad actors such as China who might exploit loopholes.

“If you leave anything off the list, countries that try to arbitrage America go through those countries to us,” he said.

Brennan interjected, “Through the Heard Islands?”

Watch above via CBS News.