Milwaukee, Oct 2: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for WTO-compliant measures to address trade distortions and excess capacity, while stressing that developing countries must retain policy space to industrialise.
Speaking on the concluding day of the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee, Goyal said India does not have structural excess capacity in the sectors identified by the G20 Presidency and that its manufacturing capacity serves both domestic and global demand. He said India is building manufacturing value chains from design to finished goods and positioning itself as a trusted link in global supply chains.
Goyal said India shares concerns that trade-distorting support in some economies can contribute to dumping and predatory pricing. Such concerns, he said, should be addressed through WTO-consistent instruments, including anti-dumping and countervailing duties, based on evidence and subject to judicial review.
He said industrial capacity itself was not the issue, but distortions could arise when production becomes geographically concentrated because of hidden subsidies and other forms of support. While supply-chain diversification is a legitimate objective, he said it should not be used to justify measures outside WTO rules or shift the burden of adjustment onto developing countries.
On the Most-Favoured-Nation principle, Goyal said a transparent, non-discriminatory and rules-based trading system was essential to India’s trade with G20 members. He stressed that consensus remains central to the WTO and that special and differential treatment for developing countries must be preserved. He also called for restoration of the WTO’s two-tier dispute settlement system.
On forced labour in global supply chains, Goyal said India’s commitment to its elimination was “absolute and unconditional”. He cited Article 23 of the Constitution, which prohibits forced labour, and noted that India has ratified ILO Conventions 29 and 105. He also said India amended its Foreign Trade Policy in July 2026 to prohibit imports of goods produced using forced labour.
Goyal said border measures against forced labour should be based on specific and verifiable evidence rather than presumptions about entire countries, regions or sectors, and should comply with due process and WTO rules.
He described the International Labour Organisation as the competent, universal and tripartite body for labour standards. India, he said, supports the elimination of forced labour and voluntary exchange of good practices among G20 members, provided such cooperation does not involve monitoring members, create new obligations or provide a basis for unilateral trade action.
At the closing session, Goyal thanked US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer and the US G20 Presidency for the arrangements and hospitality. Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for countries to work together on issues where consensus is possible, he said India had participated constructively in discussions across the four themes.
Goyal reaffirmed India’s commitment to a rules-based, fair, equitable, transparent, open, inclusive and multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core. He also stressed the need to preserve policy space for developing countries while maintaining consensus-based decision-making.
He 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 trade and tourism minister of Australia, the commerce minister of Saudi Arabia, France’s minister delegate for foreign trade and economic attractiveness, the trade minister of the Republic of Korea and Canada’s minister of international trade.
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