If you’re trying to figure out what is going on in our country, I’m here to tell you that I am right along with you. Wakanda, the home of T’challa is currently one of the leading trends on social media, and it’s all due to the fictional country being listed as a free trade agreement partner of the United States on the Agricultural Tariff Tracker, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
According to NBC News, USDA used Wakanda while they were testing the system behind the tracker, and they forgot to remove it.
Mike Illenberg, a USDA spokesman, said, “Over the past few weeks, the Foreign Agricultural Service staff who maintain the Tariff Tracker have been using test files to ensure that the system is running properly. The Wakanda information should have been removed after testing and has now been taken down.”
The mistake was first noticed Wednesday morning by Francis Tseng, while he researched how trade deal tariffs affect food distribution and hunger in different countries. He said, “I definitely did a double-take. I Googled Wakanda to make sure it was actually fiction, and I wasn’t misremembering. I mean, I couldn’t believe it.”
As you all know, the fictional country Wakanda was featured in the Marvel box office hit “Black Panther.”
Nonetheless, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru are still on the list, especially seeing as how those are real places.
Check out what people had to say about the mistake on Twitter:
TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
