Francis Tseng, a fellow at the Jain Family Institute, first noticed Wakanda listed as a trade partner while researching how trade deal tariffs affect food distribution and hunger in those countries Wednesday morning. While looking for a resource that examined existing trade deals, he came upon the USDA tariff tracker and was instantly stunned by his discovery.
The Morning Rundown
Get a head start on the morning’s top stories.
“I definitely did a double take,” he said. “I Googled Wakanda to make sure it was actually fiction, and I wasn’t misremembering. I mean, I couldn’t believe it.”
There were hundreds of data inputs for Wakanda, a nation that first appeared in the July 1966 Marvel comic Fantastic Four #52 and is home to superhero Black Panther. Different commodity groups offered on drop-down menus range from fresh vegetables and unroasted coffee beans to essential oils and livestock.
Each commodity group had separate entries that provide details on the tariffs for each product.
Yellow potatoes appear to maintain a “0.5 cent/kg” base rate when shipped in from the fictional East African nation, while frozen Chinese water chestnuts are tariff free if the U.S. decided to import them from Wakanda. Cows are also tariff free.
The website notes, however, that the “information displayed is not official and should only be used as a general reference. Each importing countries customs office maintains the right for final determination of tariff treatment.”
It appears that Wakanda was listed as a free trade country with the U.S. sometime after June 10, according to the Internet Archive.
The USDA did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday morning, but Wakanda was removed from the website prior to 2 p.m. ET.
Marvel also did not respond when asked how it felt that the fictional nation appeared to have negotiated a temporary trade agreement with the U.S.
Tseng said he hoped to soon find some answers, but has hit a series of dead ends.
“I was trying to figure out whether this is someone at the USDA making a joke or if it’s a developer who accidentally left it in, but I’m not sure,” he said.
Joe Murphy contributed.
