bargaining chip

plural bargaining chips

1. Someone or something used as a leverage in negotiations.

   Why Crimea is Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s greatest bargaining chip [title]

   2022 December 15, Patrick Wintour, “Why Crimea is Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s greatest bargaining chip”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   As a matter of fact, we have a vast range of technology and weaponry right now that provides all the bargaining chips that we need.

   1984 October 21, Walter Mondale, 1984 U.S. Presidential Debate

   The money separately pledged to the security forces must not become a bargaining chip — it was after Russia cut off such cash that the government in Kabul fell in 1992.

   2012 October 27, “Afghanistan: Towards a better land”, in The Economist

   Synonyms: bargaining counter