Hang American exhaust brackets (7)
I believe the answer is:
suspend
'hang' is the definition.
(suspend can mean to hang or swing)
'american exhaust brackets' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'american' could be 'us' (United States) and 'us' is found within the answer.
'exhaust' could be 'spend' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'spend' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for suspend that I've seen before include "Delay" , "Adjourn" , "Hang freely" , "Temporarily render inoperative" , "Put in abeyance" .)