Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for a WTO-compliant approach to addressing global trade distortions, stressing that trade measures should be based on evidence and should not undermine the policy space available to developing countries.
Speaking on the concluding day of the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Goyal participated in discussions on structural excess capacity and production, the Most-Favoured-Nation principle, forced labour in global supply chains and the future of the multilateral trading system.
On structural excess capacity and production, Goyal said India is the fastest-growing large economy in the world, with a domestic-demand-driven economy serving 1.4 billion people.
He said India is building manufacturing value chains from design to finished goods and is emerging as a trusted link in global supply chains.
Goyal said India’s manufacturing capacity caters to both domestic and global requirements and that, in the sectors identified by the G20 Presidency, India does not have structural excess capacity.
He said India shares concerns over trade-distorting support in some economies that could lead to dumping and predatory pricing. However, such concerns, he said, should be addressed through measures consistent with World Trade Organisation rules.
The Minister cited anti-dumping and countervailing duties as WTO-consistent measures that should be based on evidence and remain subject to judicial review.
Goyal said industrial capacity by itself was not the issue and that distortions could arise when geographical concentration of production was driven by hidden subsidies and other forms of support.
He said diversification of production and supply chains was a legitimate objective, but should not become a pretext for measures outside WTO rules or result in the burden of adjustment being shifted to developing countries.
The Minister stressed that developing countries must retain adequate policy space to industrialise. He also said the sharing of statistics and data should take place through existing mechanisms.
On the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle, Goyal said India’s trade with G20 members depends on a transparent, non-discriminatory and rules-based trading system.
He said MFN treatment remained a key element of this system by ensuring that the same trading terms apply across members.
Goyal also emphasised that consensus-based decision-making remains central to the WTO and called for the preservation of special and differential treatment for developing countries to enable them to catch up with developed economies.
He also called for the restoration of the WTO’s two-tier dispute settlement system.
On eliminating forced labour from global supply chains, Goyal said India’s commitment to ending forced labour was absolute and unconditional.
He pointed out that Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits forced labour as a fundamental right, enforceable by the Supreme Court.
The Minister said India has ratified ILO Conventions 29 and 105 and amended its Foreign Trade Policy in July 2026 to prohibit imports of goods produced using forced labour.
Goyal said trade measures at the border should be based on specific and verifiable evidence rather than assumptions about entire countries, regions or sectors. He also stressed the need to respect due process and WTO rules.
He said the International Labour Organization is the competent, universal and tripartite body for labour standards.
India, he said, supports the objective of eliminating forced labour and voluntary exchanges of good practices among G20 members, provided such cooperation does not involve monitoring of members, create new obligations or lead to information being used as the basis for unilateral trade action.
Goyal thanked US G20 Presidency and Ambassador Greer for the arrangements and hospitality extended in Milwaukee.
Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message that issues that cannot be resolved together should not come in the way of those that can, Goyal said India participated in the meeting in that spirit and shared its concerns while offering constructive inputs across all four themes.
The Minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to a rules-based, fair, equitable, non-discriminatory, transparent, open, inclusive and multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.
He also emphasised the importance of preserving policy space for developing countries to grow and ensure food security, while upholding consensus-based decision-making.
Goyal extended India’s support to the United Kingdom for its G20 Presidency in 2027.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Goyal held bilateral discussions with the Minister for Trade and Tourism of Australia, the Commerce Minister of Saudi Arabia, France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, the Trade Minister of South Korea and Canada’s Minister of International Trade.