US Steel and Nippon, whose $14.3 billion merger was blocked by President Joe Biden last week, filed a lawsuit against the US government Monday, claiming Biden’s executive order to bar the companies from combining was signed for “purely political reasons.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that Nippon Steel's blocked acquisition of U.S. Steel received a "thorough analysis" by an interagency national security review body that was sent to President Joe Biden.

The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, alleges that it was a political decision and violated the companies’ due process.