No Dairy, No Grains, No GM Foods: India Draws Hard Farm Red Lines in US Trade Deal

Goyal Says No to GM Foods, Farm Imports in India-US Trade Pact.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has drawn an unmistakable line in the sand in the India-US Interim Trade Agreement, making it clear that India will not open its farm gates to genetically modified foods or sensitive agricultural imports, even as it pursues deeper trade ties with Washington. Finalized on February 7, 2026, the pact delivers meaningful tariff relief and expanded access to the US market for Indian exporters, but deliberately shuts out products that could undermine India’s fragile rural economy, where millions of small farmers depend on protected markets for survival. Dairy and poultry products, staple grains such as wheat, rice, maize and millets, and other politically and economically sensitive items including meat, sugar, oilseeds, ethanol and tobacco have been kept firmly off the negotiation table, with Goyal explicitly ruling out the entry of GM agricultural products from the US under any circumstances.

The government’s stance reflects a broader strategic recalibration in India’s trade policy, one that prioritizes export growth without sacrificing food security or rural stability. While the US has slashed its reciprocal tariff rate on most Indian goods to 18 percent from earlier levels approaching 50 percent—unlocking major gains for sectors like gems and jewellery, generic pharmaceuticals, tea, coffee, spices, cashews, select fruits, aircraft parts and auto components—India has resisted sustained pressure from US agribusiness lobbies seeking access to its vast consumer market. Instead, New Delhi has offered limited concessions on non-sensitive American exports such as almonds, walnuts and pistachios, premium fruits, wines and spirits under minimum import price safeguards, and strategic technology and energy imports, ensuring that trade liberalization does not translate into farm distress.

By ring-fencing agriculture while aggressively opening doors for manufacturing and high-value exports, Goyal has framed the agreement as proof that India can negotiate from a position of confidence rather than concession. The interim pact, positioned as a stepping stone toward the vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047,” is being projected as a model for future trade deals—one that expands India’s footprint in a $30-trillion US market without allowing cheap, subsidized or genetically modified farm products to destabilize domestic agriculture. In political and economic terms alike, the message from the government is blunt: India will trade, but it will not trade away its farmers.