WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) and the Trump administration on Thursday asked a U.S. 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 move forward with its $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel.

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