A number of U.S. business groups on Wednesday sounded the alarm that the Biden administration's national security review of Nippon Steel's planned $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel is being unduly influenced by political pressure.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) told the companies in an Aug. 31 letter seen by Reuters the deal would damage American steel production. The groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, National Foreign Trade Council and United States Council for International Business, told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that they "fear that the CFIUS process is being used to further political agendas that are outside the committee’s purview and putting the U.S. economy and workers at risk."