Piyush Goyal to visit US for G20 meet, push for interim bilateral trade deal

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will be in the US on Tuesday to attend the G20 meet in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and also engage with his American counterpart to finalise an interim bilateral trade agreement (BTA), which is awaiting a competitive tariff architecture.

According to a commerce ministry’s statement, during his visit (September 29-October 5) Goyal will participate in the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting on September 30 and October 1 and also visit Chicago to meet leaders of the industry and Indian diaspora.

Goyal is visiting Milwaukee at the invitation of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the statement said.

At the G20 trade ministers’ meeting India will engage constructively with all members and “work towards a rules-based, open, inclusive, transparent, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system” with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, while ensuring adequate policy space for developing countries, it said.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Goyal will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts. The engagements will focus on expanding opportunities for farmers, fishermen, women entrepreneurs, startups, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and other enterprises, it said.

The minister will also engage bilaterally with his counterpart from the US as part of ongoing efforts to advance a balanced and mutually beneficial India-US BTA and finalise an interim deal in line with the Joint Statement of February 7, it said.

India and the US concluded a framework for an interim BTA in February, but an agreement could not be signed after the US Supreme Court invalidated the legal basis for the preferential tariff Washington had offered. India now awaits a preferential tariff architecture vis-a-vis its competition.

In Milwaukee and Chicago, Goyal will meet chief executives of leading American companies in manufacturing, consumer goods, agri-business, retail and technology, and participate in roundtables with businesses, startups and innovative companies, the statement said. He will promote India as a manufacturing and investment destination, it said.

“The visit is expected to further strengthen the trade and investment partnership between India and the United States and deepen India’s engagement with its G20 partners,” the statement said. In Chicago, Goyal will also pay floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti and Swami Vivekananda. He will also interact with professional associations representing the Indian community.

Meanwhile, Goyal participated in the 14th meeting of the India-UAE high-level joint task force on investments (HLJTFI) in Mumbai on Monday. “Today’s meeting addressed key trade and investment priorities, including initiatives to expand bilateral investment flows and explore emerging areas of collaboration,” commerce ministry said in another statement.

The meeting was co-chaired by Goyal and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) managing director Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The India-UAE bilateral trade reached $101.25 billion in 2025-26 and after signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the two partners aim to achieve $200 billion worth of bilateral trade by 2032, it said.