I would agree that the buyer will likely to take advantage of “trade secret” in the event the deal failed through though NDA might have signed especially those horizontal merger or acquisition. Sometime it is difficult to prove “the trade secrets” are being used. I would think the seller has to exercise due care in delivering the trade secrets and only do this when the deal is very like and nearly finalised or even can condition in such a way the the “trade secret will only be delivered upon completion of deal.
