Maybe American partners at table less easy-going (9)
I believe the answer is:
westerner
'maybe american' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'partners at table less easy-going' is the wordplay.
'partners at table' becomes 'we' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'less easy-going' becomes 'sterner' (I've seen this before).
'we'+'sterner'='WESTERNER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for westerner that I've seen before include "Frenchman compared to Thai, say" , "Could be European" , "may be a North American" , "European or American" , "One from certain quarter" .)