A few years ago, trade negotiators pacing the corridors of the World Trade Organization (WTO) would not have expected a war in Europe, a global pandemic, and a global food crisis to dominate discussions at a WTO Ministerial Conference. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has reported that world hunger increased in 2020 under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zooming into the Black Sea, the closure of Ukrainian ports amidst the Russian invasion does not bode well for net food-importing countries across the globe.