(Bloomberg) -- Nippon Steel Corp. alleges the White House had undue influence over a national security review of the Japanese company’s $14.9 billion bid for United States Steel Corp. and threatened legal action if the deal is blocked, Reuters reported.
The accusation was made in a Dec. 17 letter, signed by counsel for Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Reuters said, saying it had been given sight of the document.
CFIUS has a Monday deadline to approve the deal, extend the review, or recommend that President Joe Biden scuttle it, Reuters said.
Last weekend, CFIUS set the stage for Biden, who has long opposed the tie-up, to block it in a 29-page letter by raising allegedly unresolved national security risks, Reuters exclusively reported.
In its response, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel allege that Biden improperly influenced the review’s outcome before CFIUS could reach its conclusions, Reuters said. They cited the opposition to the deal by United Steelworkers President David McCall, who endorsed Biden for re-election soon after the President announced his opposition to the merger, Reuters reported.
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