Investing.com-- Nippon Steel Corp (TYO: 5401 ) and U.S. Steel (NYSE: X ) have remained in active talks to preserve their $14 billion merger agreement and are also negotiating with the Donald Trump administration, Semafor reported on Thursday.

Nippon Steel has offered to invest even more in U.S. steel factories to appease the Trump administration into greenlighting the merger, and could invest as much as $7 billion, compared to its prior offer of $2.7 billion, the Semafor report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Trump and the Biden administration had largely opposed the merger, amid concerns that it could compromise U.S. steel supplies and also result in job losses in the industry.

But Trump signaled that he was open to Nippon Steel making a strategic investment in the country. Nippon’s vow of building out more U.S. steel production is also in line with Trump’s plans to bring more manufacturing back into America.

The U.S. President recently imposed 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminium with the goal of increasing domestic production of the key metals.