The Art of the Ordeal: Negotiating Settlements with the Government in the Era of ‘National Economic Security’

As trade policy transforms into a primary weapon of national security, transnational corporations find themselves facing unprecedented regulatory scrutiny across multiple jurisdictions. With ever-increasing risk of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement, firms need to address both when an investigation could occur and how to master the negotiations that follow. 

This panel will deconstruct the high-stakes interaction between transnational corporations and agencies on both sides of the Atlantic in the context of trade and national security, including export, import and investment control; trade defence/trade remedies and trade disputes; customs and tariffs; government procurement; and transnational mergers and acquisitions (M&A).  

The discussion will cover:

• Understanding governments as counterparties: who is actually at the table? Is “the government” a monolith or a coalition of actors? How do agencies coordinate? How do companies map decision-makers, incentives, escalation points and outside options.
• Defining the win and aligning interests: what do companies need from negotiations? What do governments need? How do different political systems and institutional incentives shape what successful outcomes look like?
• Settlement architecture and practical lessons: monitoring, audits, expert reviews, structural remedies, media strategy, and the do’s and don’ts of building credibility in government-facing negotiations.
• Trends and developments: how national security, supply-chain resilience, sanctions, investment control and industrial policy are changing the nature of these negotiations, and how approaches may differ between liberal democracies and state-led capitalist regimes.