The review highlights with many examples that agricultural trade is not just a function of countries and regions, but especially of food system actors. This in turn calls for more holistic perspectives and analyses, which blend novel insights into local and on-the-ground perspectives, including those of the whole range of stakeholders (e.g., as part of case studies) with global or macro-level data and analyses. We conclude that only the combination of local and macro-perspectives is likely to provide a more convincing assessment of transboundary impacts of trade on sustainable development and human rights, and of interrelationships. Our case studies are therefore connected with a systems-dynamic modelling of global linkages and market dynamics, the latter related to trends, shocks, robustness, food system resilience, and food and nutrition security.