2026 Corporate Compliance, Litigation Outlook for Manufacturers

The following first appeared on Robinson+Cole’s Manufacturing Law Blog. It is reposted here with permission.

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In late 2012, we created the Manufacturing Law Blog with the goal of providing our manufacturing clients with a holistic approach to the unique issues they face in their global operations. 

Starting in 2016, we began a tradition of dedicating our first three posts of the year to a yearly outlook from different vantage points.

Here are corporate compliance and litigation issues that manufacturers might expect to face in 2026:

Tariffs are here to stay: We are all waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the legality of the reciprocal tariffs. There is a significant amount of activity regarding the what-ifs surrounding the ruling, including whether companies will be able to seek refunds.

What is more certain, however, is that there is no indication that the administration will return to a low tariff environment.

The manufacturing industry will continue to be impacted by the steel and aluminum (232 tariffs) as well as other similar tariffs developed over time.

We have worked with many manufacturers to mitigate their tariff exposure through various means, which will continue in 2026.

M&A activity will continue to be hot for manufacturers of all sizes: In 2025, our group handled over 15 transactions; some were for corporate buyers and others were for private equity; some were acquisitions and others were sales; and some were very large in terms of transaction size and others were small.

The M&A market for small to medium sized manufacturers will remain hot. The key for all businesses is to be prepared and have your advisory team in place—the competition for deals remains fierce.  

Business-to-business disputes are becoming more prevalent: Everyone always talks about lawsuits that make the news. But for many manufacturers, there are disputes that never make the headlines and, frankly, never make it to court.

We are always advising companies behind the scenes as they try to enforce contractual rights or defend against them with sensitivity for business issues.

Too often, lawyers forget that disputes can be opportunities to keep and expand business—just as much as it may destroy relationships.

Further, if you are going to get into a contract dispute with someone, the key is to learn from it and improve the contractual language moving forward.

Too many manufacturers are relying on templates and that can burn companies when enforcement is required.

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About the author: Jeff White provides counseling and dispute resolution advice for manufacturers and distributors throughout the U.S. and globally. He leads Robinson+Cole’s Manufacturing Industry Team, as well as the Aerospace Supply Chain Team.