The US Department of Agriculture listed Wakanda as a free-trade partner - despite it being a fictional country.
US Lists Fictional 'Wakanda' As Trade Partner
Credit: Marvel Studios
December 19, 2019

It is gratifying that we have not yet abandoned our friends in Wakanda, the fictional home of Black Panther.

Source: BBC News

A USDA spokesperson said the Kingdom of Wakanda was added to the list by accident during a staff test.

The department's online tariff tracker hosted a detailed list of goods the two nations apparently traded, including ducks, donkeys and dairy cows.

In the Marvel universe, Wakanda is the fictional East African home country of superhero Black Panther.

The fictional country was removed soon from the list after US media first queried it, prompting jokes that the countries had started a trade war.

Wakanda first appeared in the Fantastic Four comic in 1966, and made a reappearance when Black Panther was adapted into an Oscar-winning film last year.

The unusual listing was spotted by Francis Tseng, a New York-based software engineer who was looking up agricultural tariffs for a fellowship he was applying for.

Wakanda Forever.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon