Inspiration
Tariffs dominate headlines but stay invisible in impact. We wanted to bridge that gap, making trade policies clear, personal, and visual so anyone can see how they shape their wallet.
What it does
Tributum is an interactive platform that turns complex tariff data into visual stories. From global trade routes to household shopping baskets, it connects macroeconomic policies to everyday costs.
How we built it
We built a Python pipeline to clean, merge, and process WITS + UN Comtrade tariff data. The frontend is a Next.js app with D3 and Mapbox powering visualizations. We integrated LLM-based text generation for contextual explanations and developed a CPI-weighted basket simulation engine to model tariff impacts on household spending.
Challenges we ran into
Data wrangling was messy, as HS codes are fragmented and poorly documented. Balancing design with performance was also tough, which included rendering Sankey flows, heatmaps, and globes without lag took lots of iteration.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Engineered a full-stack trade policy analytics platform with globe, heatmap, Sankey, and hierarchy views that took under 36 hours to build
- Modeled real household impact by mapping tariffs to a CPI-weighted consumer basket with dynamic cost simulations.
- Embedded LLM-driven explanatory insights directly into interactive data visuals, transforming raw economics into intuitive narratives.
What we learned
That clarity wins! People don’t engage with 200-page trade PDFs, but when we turned it into a map, a globe, and a basket, the story clicked. We learned how to take raw, technical data and make it human.
What's next for Tributum
- Comparison mode: US vs EU tariffs on the same basket.
- Voice assistant narration for an even more immersive experience.
- Calling to educators, journalists, and policymakers as a go-to tool for trade awareness.
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