New Delhi, October 2: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has told the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that concerns over trade-distorting subsidies must be handled through WTO-consistent measures, and that India does not have structural excess capacity in the sectors identified by the G20 Presidency. He was speaking on the concluding day of the meeting in the United States.
Goyal spoke in sessions on structural excess capacity and production, updating the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle, ending forced labour in global supply chains, and in the closing session.
India’s position on excess capacity
Goyal said India is the fastest-growing large economy in the world, with a domestic-demand-driven economy serving 1.4 billion people. India is building manufacturing value chains from design to finished goods as a trusted link in global supply chains, he said, and its manufacturing capacity serves both domestic and global needs.
He said India shares the concern of many members that trade-distorting support in some economies can lead to dumping and predatory pricing. Such concerns, he said, are dealt with through WTO-consistent measures, including anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which are based on evidence and subject to judicial review.
Industrial capacity in itself is not the issue, Goyal said. Distortions arise where production is concentrated in one region because of hidden subsidies and support. Diversifying production and supply chains is a legitimate aim, he said, but it cannot be used as a pretext for measures outside WTO rules or to shift the burden of adjustment onto developing countries, which must keep the policy space to industrialise. Statistics and data, he added, should be shared within existing mechanisms.
Call to restore WTO dispute settlement
On the MFN principle, Goyal said India’s trade with G20 members depends on a transparent, non-discriminatory and rules-based trading system, and MFN treatment ensures the same terms apply to the smallest and the largest trader. He said consensus remains central to the WTO and that special and differential treatment must be kept so developing countries can catch up with developed economies. He also called for the two-tier dispute settlement system to be restored.
Forced labour and trade measures
Goyal said India’s commitment to eliminating forced labour was absolute and unconditional. He pointed out that Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits forced labour as a fundamental right enforceable by the Supreme Court, that India has ratified ILO Conventions 29 and 105, and that in July 2026 India amended its Foreign Trade Policy to ban imports of goods made using forced labour.
Measures at the border, he said, must rest on specific and verifiable evidence instead of presumptions about whole countries, regions or sectors, and must respect due process and WTO rules. He described the International Labour Organization as the competent body for labour standards. India supports voluntary exchange of good practices among G20 members, he said, provided it does not involve monitoring of members, create new obligations or result in information being used for unilateral trade action.
UK G20 Presidency and bilateral meetings
Goyal thanked Ambassador Greer and the US G20 Presidency for hosting the meeting. Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words that issues which cannot be resolved together should not come in the way of those that can, he said India took part in that spirit and offered inputs on all four themes. He also extended India’s full support to the United Kingdom for its G20 Presidency in 2027.
On the sidelines, Goyal held bilateral meetings with Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce, France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, South Korea’s Minister for Trade and Canada’s Minister of International Trade.
Related: Piyush Goyal to visit US for G20 trade meeting and India-US trade talks