Wakanda forever! Or at least, that’s what you might think if you looked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s tariff tracking site until recently. According to SYFY Wire, Wakanda was listed as an actual country on the site, and as an official free trade partner.
Was this a joke? Is someone at the USDA a huge Marvel fan? Or is Wakanda actually a real country draped in its technologically advanced bubble? Any of these options are possible.
We have photographic proof of this thanks to researcher Francis Tseng from the Jain Family Institute, who tweeted out a screenshot of the site’s drop-down menu options, where Wakanda was listed as a choice:
Wakanda is listed as a US free trade partner on the USDA website?? pic.twitter.com/xcq1OFTIPh
— Francis Tseng (@frnsys) December 18, 2019
Apparently Wakanda was listed on the site since June. What is the US trading for Vibranium? How much Vibranium has it stockpiled? What will it be used for? These are the important questions.
But things get more interesting still. If you actually chose Wakanda fromt he drop-down menu, you would get a list of the country’s exports. According to NBC News:
"Different commodity groups offered on drop-down menus range from fresh vegetables and unroasted coffee beans to essential oils and livestock… frozen Chinese water chestnuts were tariff free if the U.S. decided to import them from Wakanda. Cows were also tariff free."
Unfortunately, Vibranium was not listed as a Wakandan export, which makes sense since it’s not an agricultural product. Also it’s fictional.
Anyway, Wakanda is no longer an option on the USDA site, but we’ll never forget. Next step: getting Asgard on the USDA list. What do you think they export?
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