Concessions under every FTA have been given only after private sector’s approval, Piyush Goyal says

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) asserted that he has not done a single trade deal where India has provided concessions without the approval of the relevant private sector. Since about 2022, Mr. Goyal has supervised the conclusion of eight trade agreements, with the ninth with the U.S. currently underway. 

Speaking at the Global Economic Cooperation 2026 summit organised by the Future Economic Cooperation Council, Mr. Goyal said that over the last four years, India has entered into agreement from a position of strength, which has allowed it to secure the interests of the country’s farmers, fisherfolk, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

“I have not done a single trade agreement that has had a single concession that we have given which was not approved both by the line Ministry and by the stakeholders from the private sector,” Mr. Goyal said. 

“When you negotiate from a position of strength, you are able to balance national interests and also take care of sensitivities,” he added. “In all our trade deals, our farmers’, MSMEs, fishermen’s interests, the interest of jobs in India, these have been paramount in our negotiations.” 

As an example, Mr. Goyal asserted that India has not opened up its dairy sector “for any country whatsoever”. 

“Countries like Australia, New Zealand, U.S. or Europe have never done a free trade agreement without dairy being an integral part of the FTA, but they have accepted to do it with India,” he said. “Our small dairy, marginal farmers with 3-4 livestock cannot compete with the mechanised dairies of the West or the developed world. Not a single farmer will have a cause for complaint once the full text of the agreement is out.”

The Commerce Minister also explained that India stands to gain in several ways through the India-U.S. trade agreement, including through a diversification of its oil import sources.  

“The U.S. is a $90,000 per capita economy, and we are a $3,000 per capita economy,” he said. “I daresay they cannot make anything more competitively than India can.” 

He added that there are certain items that India needs from the U.S., such as graphics processing units (GPUs), equipment for data centres and high quality quantum computing, and types of energy. 

“We want to diversify our oil sources,” Mr. Goyal said. “We want to diversify our sources of coking coal as well. We are currently dependent on 2-3 geographies. I would love to have American high quality coking coal.”

(The reporter is at the GEC 2026 summit on the invitation of the Future Economic Cooperation Council.)