The United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) removed the fictional country of Wakanda from
an online list of nations that have free trade agreements with
the United States on Thursday.
There was no immediate response from the USDA for comment. A
spokesman told The Washington Post that the inclusion of the
mythical African nation from the universe of Marvel superheroes
was a mistake made as part of a test officials were running.
Francis Tseng, a New York-based software engineer who was
looking for data on U.S. agricultural tariffs for a fellowship
he is pursuing, first noticed the listing for Wakanda on the
U.S. tariff list and called it out on Twitter.
well, the USDA took Wakanda off the list. guess we're in a trade war with them too https://t.co/uee8f0WqiS https://t.co/kTYBjIAvfe
— Francis Tseng (@frnsys) December 18, 2019
"I was very confused at first and thought I misremembered
the country from the movie and got it confused with something
else," Tseng told Reuters.
Before it was removed, Tseng managed to download an Excel
sheet listing "Harmonized Schedule" tariff codes for various
categories of goods traded between Wakanda and the U.S.
including live animals, dairy goods, tobacco and alcohol.
The hypothetical tariffs that "Wakanda", a fictional country from the movie "Black Panther", would incur if it was a free trade partner with the U.S., are seen in this screenshot of a spreadsheet obtained from the USDA website. Picture: USDA /via REUTERS
"Wakanda", a fictional country from the movie "Black Panther", is seen as an option of a free trade partner with the U.S., in this screenshot obtained from the USDA website. Picture: USDA /via REUTERS
"Wakanda", a fictional country from the movie "Black Panther", is seen as an option of a free trade partner with the U.S., in this screenshot obtained from the USDA website. Picture: USDA /via REUTERS
After the list was corrected, Tseng tweeted: "Well, the USDA
took Wakanda off the list. Guess we're in a trade war with them
too."
The Kingdom of Wakanda is the home of Black Panther, the
Marvel superhero, and is portrayed in comic books and the 2018
blockbuster as an isolated African nation with the most powerful
technology on the planet.
There was no USDA entry for vibranium, the fictional metal
from space that is the source of Wakanda's power.
Marvel is owned by Walt Disney Co.