Biden killed US Steel deal even though some US officials rejected national security concerns

New York CNN —

President Joe Biden decided to block the $14 billion takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel even though some top US officials did not believe there were sufficient national security grounds to kill the deal, a US official told CNN.

The controversial decision to block the US Steel deal has won praise from union officials but faced fierce criticism inside and outside the administration.

US Steel and Nippon Steel alleged in a Monday lawsuit that the process was driven by politics, not national security concerns.

Even though the US Steel takeover offer was from a company based in Japan – a major US ally – like all foreign acquisitions, it faced an intense review from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful but secretive interagency panel.

However, CFIUS failed to reach a decision about whether the deal posed a national security risk, leaving the decision to the president.

Multiple prominent CFIUS members believed that any national security risk could be mitigated and thatthere were insufficient grounds to block the deal, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the US official said. Yellen chairs CFIUS.

However, other CFIUS members were opposed on national security grounds, including US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, two sources familiar with the CFIUS process told CNN. Officials at the US Energy Department and Commerce Department also had concerns about the deal, one of the sources said.

None of the US agencies involved in CFIUS’s decision would comment to CNN on the private deliberations.

Biden specifically cited national security and the importance of a strong domestic steel industry in his statement explaining