I write as an American liberal internationalist and human rights advocate who has worked across sectors for the last quarter century to promote corporate responsibility and accountability. I have never written in such anticipation of disruption to the business and human rights agenda - or with such determination that we must defend our collective achievements. Our progress may seem incomplete and inadequate, but it is now at historic risk as the US takes a shocking turn.

Donald Trump’s election to another term in the White House - together with Republican control of the US Senate and the House of Representatives - is a hydra-headed threat facing all directions.

The threats are pervasive and pernicious: crony capitalism prevailing over the pretense of stakeholder capitalism; worker rights eroding as employers regain dominance; billionaires and corporations salivating at the prospect of lower taxes and weaker regulations; oil and gas companies returning to “drill, baby, drill” as the climate crisis intensifies; limited reproductive rights endangering the health of women at the hands of the Supreme Court and red states; political opponents bracing for “revenge”; democracy and human rights falling off the agenda as objectives of US foreign policy and diplomacy; Ukraine feeling pressure to negotiate away its sovereign territory with irreparable damage to the battered remnants of the international rules-based order.

We must accept the result as supporters of constitutional democracy based on the sanctity of the vote and transparent electoral processes - and to maintain constitutional democracy itself as it faces its greatest challenge in modern American history.

Yet we must also defend liberal democracy: safeguarded by the rule of law and accountable institutions, grounded in human rights, strengthened by inclusion and tolerance, and committed to equality and opportunity.

American business largely failed its “corporate responsibility test of the century” so far: to overcome fear and speak the truth before the election in whose outcome US constitutional democracy and leadership in the international community were at stake.

The Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce - corporate America’s most influential policy platforms - remained mute on the stakes, although admirably but less significantly 20 recent CEOs spoke out (and endorsed Harris) on 29 October.

Now American companies and investors face a new test of corporate responsibility: to be countervailing voices and forces against the Trump Administration’s most extreme policies and actions that threaten the “shared space” of the rule of law, accountable governance and the civic freedoms where the values and interests of business and civil society should converge.

Such responsibility should be embraced, but accountability must be imposed if companies are complacent or complicit as a wrecking ball strikes the pillars of liberal, constitutional democracy.

The business and human rights community has a vital role both to encourage responsibility and to impose accountability in two critical arenas.

First, American companies must demonstrate responsibility and face accountability in relation to regressive policies and actions of the Trump Administration and Congress.

Companies and industry associations will understandably refrain from picking fights, but they must be prepared to fight those picked for them.

They should recall the CEO resignations from White House advisory councils after Trump said there were “some very fine people” among the tiki-torch bearing neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville in August 2017.

They should remember the statements by business leaders calling on Trump to protect the undocumented immigrant Dreamers in 2017 and condemning the separation of families at the US-Mexico border in 2018.

Their resolve will be tested by the mass deportations already planned as Trump takes office. They must also join civil society groups to counter expected threats to peaceful protest and free speech, the essence of liberal democracy. Tech companies should also refrain from recent efforts to suppress employee dissent and activism amidst increased political tension and disinformation.

Companies and industry associations must support the implementation of the USG National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct and the forthcoming recommendations of the multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct. They must also encourage the business and human rights work of the Departments of State and Labor - from digital rights to workers’ rights - in Washington and at diplomatic missions abroad.

Second, American companies must demonstrate responsibility and face accountability for their policies and practices consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Implementation of policy commitments must be maintained across company operations and supply chains in alignment with industry-specific standards and best practice - and with the new EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Companies must strengthen their human rights due diligence and risk assessment processes, and apply recently-developed frameworks to heightened risk conflict areas as well as to human rights and environmental defenders under threat in the extractives and agribusiness sectors.

They must reinforce their commitments to multi-stakeholder standards and initiatives - from the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPI) and the Extractive Industries Initiative (EITI) to the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Global Network Initiative (GNI) - that will be more important platforms for stakeholder engagement and accountability if the USG is no longer constructive.

They must also accelerate momentum on both long-standing and emerging issues, from human trafficking and forced labour to the just transition and critical minerals. The fight for gender and LGBQT equality continues and companies that cancel diversity will lose talent and reputation.

Just as corporate America must embrace this responsibility challenge, civil society organizations must also accept their responsibility to impose accountability.

Their ability will be tested to engage companies where possible through dialogue and partnership - and to confront them when necessary through campaigns and litigation. Effective coordination of objectives and strategies with domestic and international allies will also be tested. The work of majority world CSOs scrutinizing American and other foreign multinationals will remain critical to local and global accountability.

Progress in the business and human rights world has never been linear. But as we enter the next four years of disruption, we can avert the destruction of the architecture of corporate responsibility and accountability we have built.

Even with the US in turmoil, it is our choice and within our power to move the business and human rights agenda forward around the world.

Bennett Freeman was Senior VP for Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He is a co-founder and steering committee member of B4Ukraine and the Cotton Campaign and served on the boards of NGOs and MSIs including Global Witness, Oxfam America, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Global Network Initiative and the Institute for Human Rights and Business.