Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal participated in the concluding day of the G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, speaking across four thematic sessions on October 2, 2026.
On structural excess capacity and production, Goyal stated that India, as the world's fastest-growing large economy serving 1.4 billion people through domestic-demand-driven growth, does not have structural excess capacity in sectors identified by the G20 Presidency. He emphasized that India's manufacturing capacity serves both domestic and global needs while building complete value chains from design to finished goods. Goyal acknowledged concerns about trade-distorting support in some economies leading to dumping and predatory pricing but insisted such issues must be addressed exclusively through WTO-consistent measures including anti-dumping and countervailing duties based on evidence and subject to judicial review. He clarified that industrial capacity itself isn't problematic, but distortions arise from geographical concentration driven by hidden subsidies, and stressed that diversification objectives cannot pretext non-WTO measures or shift adjustment burdens onto developing countries that require policy space for industrialization.
Regarding the Most-Favoured-Nation principle update, Goyal emphasized India's trade with G20 members depends on a transparent, non-discriminatory, rules-based system where MFN treatment guarantees equal terms for all traders. He stressed consensus must remain central to WTO processes, special and differential treatment must preserve developing countries' catching-up capabilities, and called for restoring the two-tier dispute settlement system.
On forced labour elimination, Goyal reaffirmed India's absolute commitment, noting Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits forced labour as a fundamental right enforceable by the Supreme Court. India has ratified ILO Conventions 29 and 105 and amended its Foreign Trade Policy in July 2026 to prohibit import of goods produced using forced labour. He insisted border measures must be based on specific, verifiable evidence rather than presumptions about entire regions or sectors, must respect due process and WTO rules, and recognized ILO as the competent universal body for labour standards. India supports voluntary good practice exchanges provided they don't involve member monitoring, create new obligations, or enable unilateral trade actions.
Goyal concluded by reaffirming India's commitment to a rules-based, fair, equitable, non-discriminatory, transparent, open, inclusive multilateral trading system with WTO at its core, emphasizing policy space preservation for developing countries and consensus-based decision making. He extended India's support to the United Kingdom's 2027 G20 Presidency and held bilateral meetings with trade ministers from Australia, Saudi Arabia, France, South Korea, and Canada.