Amcham’s most recent Executive Forum followed the story of Panu Routila, C.E.O. of Konecranes and his first 100 days managing the company.

Johannes Piha of Borenius was also in attendance as an expert in the topic at hand.

It’s not only the China factor changing the game. Here are his top five trends in global mergers and acquisitions

1. Growing nationalism

A backlash to globalization is being felt across the globe. You can’t be too diligent when getting your head around the impact of local and national politics on global business.

2. Tightening of regulation and tax regimes

We don’t see just more and tighter regulation, but also lower thresholds to use already existing possibilities for regulatory intervention: The restless political landscape makes politicians jumpy and the business environment more unpredictable than in a long time.

Tightening tax regimes: Countries are competing for tax revenues. One country’s loss is another’s win. The tightening atmosphere has increased uncertainty.

3. Outbound Chinese M&A

The Chinese are a party in more and more business transactions, which means that also the reach of the Chinese regulator expands further. It is wise to factor them in when you start to plan.

4. ESG and compliance demands

Environmental, social and corporate governance are hard-core business today. Never fail to study them thoroughly before you move to merge or acquire. This also goes partly back to the tightening tax regimes.

5. Effects of Brexit

It could be a can of worms, or at least a true unknown since literally no one knows where ownership will move and where filing will take place.

Photos from the Executive Forum: Managing Global Mergers can be found on our Flickr account.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the next Executive Forum on February 23, where we will discuss how to build a global brand with Michel Dallemagne of Lumene and Antti Järvinen of Google.