There is global interest in creating trade policy that better supports sustainable and food and nutrition systems. This paper identifies three key starting points to make progress toward this goal: 1) the public health sector should acknowledge that because trade has the potential to enhance as well as hinder health outcomes, it deserves further attention; 2) public health actors need to be better prepared with the right language to push for better policy; and 3) public health actors need to frame nutrition as a social and political issue--not just a technical one--if they want to bring nutrition to the forefront of development.