U.S. lawmakers urge caution on potential Chinese deal to buy U.S. crane maker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. lawmakers are urging the U.S. Treasury Department to conduct a rigorous national security review of any deal that China's Zoomlion makes to buy U.S. crane maker Terex Corp .

Terex had reached a deal to be purchased by Finland's Konecranes but has been considering an approach by Zoomlion. Last week, Terex urged the Chinese company to sweeten its $3.3 billion offer but did not say how much higher Zoomlion needed to go to win an agreement.

That has worried at least three lawmakers, who wrote to the Treasury Department, which heads the inter-agency Commission on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS reviews mergers and investment by foreign firms that might harm national security.

Republican Representatives Mike Rogers of Alabama and Walter Jones of North Carolina wrote letters last week to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urging that CFIUS carefully review the prospective deal because of Terex's defence contracts.

"I strongly caution you to apply robust scrutiny to any possible Chinese takeover of an American company that supplies resources to our service members," wrote Jones, who sits on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

Republican Representative Duncan Hunter of California, who is also on the Armed Services Committee, wrote a similar letter in mid-February.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Peter Cooney)