The Rice Exporters Association of Chhattisgarh (TREACG) has appealed to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal regarding China’s suspension of seven Indian rice exporters over alleged GMO contamination, urging a joint technical review as commercial cultivation of GM rice remains prohibited in India. In a separate trade setback, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed APEDA’s appeal seeking single-word mark registration for “Basmati rice” under Section 177(2) of Australia’s Trade Marks Act, leading trade analysts to advise India to pursue Geographic Indication (GI) status via WTO mechanisms. Meanwhile, India has officially requested WTO consultations with the US following Washington’s imposition of a four-year tariff-rate quota (TRQ) of up to 50% on imported quartz surface products, an industry where Indian exports reached around $700 million in FY26. This action represents the fourth trade dispute where India has sought WTO talks with the US, following earlier tariffs placed on steel, automobiles, and copper.