WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A top Nippon Steel ( NISTF )

executive and U.S. Steel's CEO are meeting with senior

U.S. officials on Wednesday in an effort to salvage Nippon's

$14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel, a person familiar with

the matter said.

The meeting, including Takahiro Mori, a key Nippon

negotiator on the deal, and U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt, is

also expected to include Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo

and Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves among other officials,

said the person, who declined to be named because he was not

authorized to speak about the matter.

The Treasury Department, which leads the Committee on

Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Nippon Steel ( NISTF )

and U.S. Steel all declined to comment. The Commerce Department

and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for

comment.

Wednesday's meeting comes amid opposition to the deal by

both Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic

nominee Kamala Harris. They are vying to win the critical swing

state of Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered.

Burritt plans to discuss the merger at an appearance next

week at the Detroit Economic Club. An unsolicited bid for U.S.

Steel last year by rival Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) that was

rejected by U.S. Steel had drawn concerns from U.S. automakers.

Japan Business Federation Keidanren and a number of U.S.

business groups, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

on Wednesday, raised concerns that the Biden administration's

national security review of Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) planned acquisition

of U.S. Steel is being unduly influenced by political pressure.

The review is being conducted by CFIUS.

CFIUS sent a letter in late August warning the companies

that their proposed tie-up would threaten U.S. national security

by weakening the country's steel supply chain, as first reported

by Reuters, appearing to doom the proposed deal.

"CFIUS should never become a tool for political posturing

and should not morph into industrial policy masquerading as

national security," the business groups said in their letter.

"We 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."

The companies countered in a 100-page letter also reviewed

by Reuters that the deal would actually strengthen U.S. steel

output by allowing a much-needed cash injection from a company

in an allied nation into a struggling American company in a

critical industry.

"It is essential for both Japan and the U.S. to further

strengthen economic relations including expansion of mutual

investment," Hideki Murai, a Japanese government spokesperson,

said at a press conference on Thursday, while declining to

comment specifically on the deal.