While the United States, Brazil, India and others continue to grapple with the economic shock that COVID-19 brought, China has been the surprise package in the entire story. Despite allegedly being the point of origin for the virus and one of the worst hit States, China bounced back as the only State with a considerable rise in exports by the end of 2020. This short piece, however, is not concerned with the market behaviour in terms of statistics on exports and imports. It rather looks into the limitations of international trade laws that stand exposed in the COVID-19 aftermath. It analysis how the pandemic situation has disrupted the world trade and identifies the priority issues that trading institutions can address in this moment of global distress.