International food trade is now essential to global food security — but the networks that move food also transmit shocks, whether climatic, economic, or geopolitical. This panel introduces the Jameel Index for Food Trade and Vulnerability, developed by MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), which maps food-trade vulnerability across more than 180 countries and assesses it against the foods people need for a healthy diet. The panel asks how targeted investment in local productivity, infrastructure, and R&D can build resilience where trade alone cannot.