WASHINGTON - Nippon Steel and the Trump administration on Thursday asked a US appeals court to extend a pause in their litigation for eight days, to give them more time to reach a deal allowing the Japanese firm to buy U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion.

The court is likely to approve an extension of the pause, first granted on April 7 when US President Donald Trump ordered a second national security review of the tie-up. That pause was set to expire on June 5.

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"A continued abeyance is warranted given ... the ongoing efforts to reach a resolution that would fully resolve petitioners’ claims," the companies and the government said in their filing.

The request for a short pause signals the companies and the government believe they are closing in on a deal, welcome news for investors who have anxiously followed the deal's bumpy path since it was announced in December 2023.

Both former President Joe Biden and Trump asserted last year that U.S. Steel should remain US-owned, as they sought to woo voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Pennsylvania, where the company is headquartered.

Biden blocked the deal in January on national security grounds, prompting lawsuits by the companies, which argued the national security review they received was biased. The Biden White House disputed the charge.

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The steel companies saw a new opportunity in the Trump administration, which began on January 20 and sought a pause in the litigation to open a fresh 45-day national security review into the proposed merger in April.

But Trump's public comments, ranging from welcoming a simple "investment" in U.S. Steel by the Japanese firm to floating a minority stake for Nippon Steel, created confusion.

Trump on Friday lauded an "agreement" between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel at a political rally but stopped short of approving the companies' diplomatically sensitive merger.