Canadian couple likely the only business owners on Australia's Norfolk Island to face US tariffs

News

Canadian couple likely the only business owners on Australia's Norfolk Island to face US tariffs

2025-04-08 16:53 Last Updated At：17:01

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Jesse Schiller and Rachel Evans are likely the only business owners on Australia's Norfolk Island to be directly affected by the Trump administration's tariffs, as the South Pacific outpost they call home exports nothing to the United States.

The Canadian couple, both aged 41, own a business that makes plastic-free hair accessories under the brand Kooshoo. Vancouver-born Schiller said he and his Norfolk Island-born wife are likely the only business owners on the island that will pay elevated tariffs — and they will pay at the rates imposed on Japan and India, where the goods are manufactured. Around 80% of Kooshoo’s business is with the United States.

“Kooshoo” means “feeling good” in the English-Tahitian creole known as Norf’k or Norfuk that’s spoken among this remote population of 2,000 people 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northeast of Sydney.

“We’re probably the most affected business” on Norfolk Island, Schiller said.

Norfolk Island was a shock inclusion in the Trump administration’s list of global tariffs announced last week that was intended to redress U.S. trade deficits with the world.

While Australia and its external territories were assigned the global minimum 10% tariff, including the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the Antarctic region, Norfolk Island was singled out for a 29% tariff.

“I think Norfolk became a parable of sorts for the lack of nuance with which these tariffs went out in the world,” Schiller said.

Schiller and Evans, a Canadian-Australian dual national, have the consolation of being dealt slightly lower tariffs: Japan has been assigned a 24% tariff and India 26%.

Why Norfolk Island came in for such severe and apparently futile tariff treatment has been a popular topic of conversation among locals.

“It’s been a question of great intrigue locally,” Schiller said.

“An early theory — and it seems to be proving right — is that there are other notable Norfolks in the world. Norfolk, of course, in the U.K., Norfolk in Virginia in the U.S., and it seems as though some improperly labeled customs paperwork may have contributed to the … error,” Schiller said.

“That could’ve been very easily fact-checked,” he added.

His wife, Evans, has an impressive Norfolk Islander lineage. She is a 9th generation descendant of a crewman of the British naval ship HMS Bounty who mutinied in 1789, although her mother is Canadian. The mutineers, whose exploits have been dramatized in Hollywood movies, established a settlement on Pitcairn Islands and their descendants later settled the former British penal colony of Norfolk Island.

She said the sustainable lifestyle she had learned from growing up on such an isolated island around 8 kilometers (5 miles) long and 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide had been part of the brand since they started their business in Vancouver 15 years ago.

She was confident their business would survive the latest trade barriers.

“Definitely for the short-term we’ll figure out a way to bridge this,” Evans said.

Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.

The strike was taking place at The Mount Sinai Hospital and two of its satellite campuses, with picket lines forming. The other affected hospitals are NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to New York State Nurses Association.

“After months of bargaining, management refused to make meaningful progress on core issues that nurses have been fighting for: safe staffing for patients, healthcare benefits for nurses, and workplace violence protections,” the union said in a statement issued Monday. “Management at the richest hospitals in New York City are threatening to discontinue or radically cut nurses’ health benefits.”

The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.

The hospitals involved have been hiring temporary nurses to try and fill the labor gap during the walkout, and said in a statement during negotiations that they would “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.” Montefiore posted a message assuring patients that appointments would be kept.

“NYSNA’s leaders continue to double down on their $3.6 billion in reckless demands, including nearly 40% wage increases, and their troubling proposals like demanding that a nurse not be terminated if found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job," Montefiore spokesperson Joe Solmonese said Monday after the strike had started. "We remain resolute in our commitment to providing safe and seamless care, regardless of how long the strike may last.”

New York-Presbyterian accused the union of staging a strike to “create disruption,” but said in a statement that it has taken steps to ensure patients receive the care they need.

"We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment,” the statement said.

The work stoppage is occurring at multiple hospitals simultaneously, but each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other hospitals across the city and in its suburbs reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.

The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.

Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents like a an incident last week, when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.

The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.

The nonprofit hospitals involved in the negotiations say they’ve been working to improve staffing levels, but say the union’s demands overall are too costly.

Nurses voted to authorize the strike last month.

Both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani had expressed concern about the possibility of the strike. As the strike deadline neared, Mamdani urged both sides to keep negotiating and reach a deal that “both honors our nurses and keeps our hospitals open.”

“Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable,” Mamdani said.

State Attorney General Letitia James voiced similar support, saying "nurses put their lives on the line every day to keep New Yorkers healthy. They should never be forced to choose between their own safety, their patients’ well-being, and a fair contract.”

The last major nursing strike in the city was only three years ago, in 2023. That work stoppage, at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, was short, lasting three days. It resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at those hospitals.

It also led to promised staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.