(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden’s top economic aide said the national security implications of a Japanese company’s bid to purchase United States Steel Corp. deserve a close look from US officials.

“Steel is an industry that has very important national security considerations” as well as supply-chain concerns, Lael Brainard, who leads the National Economic Council, said Monday at a Brookings Institution event, referring to Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed $14.1 billion deal. “So the particular transaction does merit serious scrutiny under our laws.” 

The sale, which would create the world’s second-largest steel company, has drawn concern from union leaders and prominent Democrats worried about the impact on jobs and supply chains.

A review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is in its early stages and may extend into 2025, far longer than the companies have signaled. The panel, led by the Treasury Department, has the power to approve, block or amend deals on national security grounds, or send it to Biden for a decision.

The CFIUS investigation will unfold against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election, where Biden is using his program to revive the US manufacturing sector as an argument to voters for a second term.

The sale of an iconic US company, headquartered in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, could have political repercussions for Biden, who is likely to again face Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 election

The deal touches on Biden administration policy aims, including the president’s bid to empower and protect union workers as well as to boost tougher enforcement of antitrust laws. Biden is also courting foreign direct investment in a bid to spur an American manufacturing renaissance. 

“Those investments are a big part of the story, I think, the positive story that’s generating jobs and the kind of productivity growth that we’ve seen in the aggregate numbers recently,” Brainard said Monday. 

Companies have invested more than a half-trillion dollars across semiconductor, electric vehicle, clean energy and heavy industries since Biden took office, according to the White House — spurred by more than $1 trillion in federal spending across the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips and Science Act. 

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