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G20 trade ministers condemn food coercion; forced labor splits

Under the U.S. presidency in Milwaukee, the full G20 backed a food-weaponization statement, while only the U.S., Mexico and Argentina signed a forced-labor pledge; excess-capacity talks fell short of consensus.

Motion Media News Staff

Oct 3, 2026

3 minutes

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer seated beside Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal at a meeting table.

Photo: Office of the United States Trade Representative / @USTradeRep on X (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons (source)

G20 trade ministers meeting in Milwaukee under the U.S. presidency agreed with one voice to denounce using food as a tool of economic or political pressure, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said after chairing the Sept. 30–Oct. 1 ministerial.

The ministers’ food statement targets governments that slow, stop, block or redirect shipments of food, farm goods or farm inputs to force unrelated geopolitical concessions. Ministers said those tactics hurt livelihoods, warp competition and erode trust in markets. The text does not cover transparent measures that pursue legitimate domestic goals, including food security, Greer said in a companion release.

Forced labor and excess capacity

A separate forced-labor text did not win G20-wide agreement. The United States, Mexico and Argentina released their own document on the margins, Greer said. The three ministers pointed to International Labor Organization figures of 28 million people in forced labor worldwide as of 2021 and urged countries to bar imports or sales of merchandise made with that labor, in whole or in part.

The chair’s statement from the U.S. presidency says Greer was “severely disappointed” that not every G20 member backed import bans on forced-labor goods. On structural overcapacity, the chair’s text says a draft call for dedicated sectoral platforms and an end to non-market policies that drive surplus production drew support from nearly all members, but a small group rejected that cooperative path. Greer’s press remarks also cited sideline talks on diesel that he said helped prompt an expected increase in global diesel supply. The four workstreams for the U.S. presidency this year were food coercion, forced labor in supply chains, structural excess capacity and production, and MFN reform, according to the chair’s statement.

Ministers also debated most-favored-nation rules. The chair’s statement says Washington argued MFN has not delivered reciprocity and can block deals among market-oriented partners, while many governments still treat MFN as a pillar of the multilateral system and a growing share see room to revisit how it works in practice.

What's next

The United Kingdom takes the G20 presidency in 2027, the chair’s statement says. Greer said he hopes more economies will join action against forced labor in supply chains and that talks on overcapacity and MFN will continue. The food statement is a political consensus document, not a binding treaty obligation; any national follow-through would run through each member’s own laws and trade tools.