US tariffs on exports from Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Posted on 5. April 2025 by Rolf Stange

The news of mine 7’s future as a museum was an April Fool’s joke (and clearly recognisable as such, I hope, isn’t it?) – this probably sounds like an even more absurd April Fool’s joke, but it’s not: the tariffs that the US government is said to have introduced also affect Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

But not because they automatically fall under the tariffs because they belong to Norway, but because they have their own tariffs. While Norway is subject to a 15% tariff, exports from Svalbard and Jan Mayen to the US are subject to a 10% tariff, according to NRK.

The good news is that, compared to many other countries, the export economy in Longyearbyen and Olonkinbyen (the station on Jan Mayen) gets off relatively lightly.

There is simply no export economy in these or other places on the islands. Svalbard’s only export so far has been coal, which has not been sold to the US in recent history. And there is no civilian population on Jan Mayen anyway, just a station, and therefore no economy at all.

On Jan Mayen there is just as much export economy as you can see in this picture: none at all.

Svalbard and Jan Mayen are not the only remote islands without an export economy that the US government has imposed tariffs on. According to Spiegel online, they include the sub-Antarctic islands of Heard and McDonald, as well as Norfolk Island near Australia.

Comment

If anyone has an explanation as to why this might make sense (leaving aside the fundamental sense or nonsense of tariffs), I would be interested to hear it. I have no idea.

Do you agree that spitsbergen-svalbard.com is a great resource for any arctic enthusiast?

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