Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal participated in the opening day of the G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, hosted under the United States G20 Presidency on October 1, 2026. During the session on food and trade, Goyal highlighted India's food security measures, noting that India ensured food security for over 1.4 billion citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently provides foodgrains free of cost to over 800 million people. He reiterated that food must never be used as an instrument of pressure against any country and stressed that countries of the Global South are among the most adversely impacted by the food, fuel and fertiliser crises caused by global conflicts.
Goyal explained India's public stockholding approach, which involves procuring from small and marginal farmers and adopting temporary transparent measures during harvest shortfalls to ensure food availability and affordability. These measures are recognized under the WTO through the Bali Ministerial Decision and Geneva Ministerial Declaration. He called for a clear distinction between measures taken to ensure food security and coercive trade actions, referencing existing mechanisms including the G20 Agricultural Market Information System established in 2011 and the exemption of World Food Programme purchases from export restrictions adopted at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference.
The Minister reaffirmed India's commitment to a rules-based, fair, non-discriminatory, equitable, transparent, open, inclusive multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core. The G20 Trade Ministers reached consensus on the outcome document 'G20 Statement on the Weaponization of Food through Coercive Trade Actions' and expressed their intent to continue cooperation on the subject.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Goyal held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services and the Foreign Minister of Brazil; the United States Trade Representative; the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security; the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and President of the Board of Trade of the United Kingdom; the Secretary of Economy of Mexico; and the Minister of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Poland. Earlier in the day, Goyal joined other G20 Trade Ministers and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer on a visit to the Rockwell Automation office and factory in Mequon, Wisconsin.