Why do global commodity-price increases reduce sovereign risk in some countries but raise it in others? Using data on 41 commodities and 37 countries, we show that trade exposure shapes these differences. We incorporate country-specific commodity baskets into a sovereign-default model in which higher prices raise consumption costs in every country, but affect trade income differently across countries. In exporter-type economies, where higher prices increase net trade income, these gains can offset higher consumption costs; in importer-type economies, trade-income losses reinforce them. The model predicts that spreads fall in exporter-type economies and rise in importer type economies, consistent with empirical evidence. […]