bargaining chip

bargaining chip (plural bargaining chips)

1. Something or someone used as a leverage in negotiations.
   • 1984, Walter Mondale, at the 1984 U.S. Presidential Debate, Oct. 21

     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.

   • 2012, The Economist, Afghanistan: Towards a better land

     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.

• bargaining counter