The bid by Japan's Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel may have a new lease on life after the Biden Administration extended a deadline for the Japanese steelmaker to abandon plans to acquire the storied Pittsburgh company after President Joe Biden blocked the deal.

The hearing for a lawsuit that Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel brought against U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is scheduled for February and March, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday, without citing sources.

Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba asked U.S. President Joe Biden to allay concerns in the Japanese and U.S. business communities over the status of Nippon Steel’s 5401.T planned acquisition of U.S.

Another Joe from Delaware—the one finishing up his final days in the White House—apparently sees himself in the same light, having stepped in to nix a $15 billion deal between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel.

The companies, whose $55 a share cash deal to acquire U.S. Steel was first proposed Dec. 18, 2023, are working against a June 18 deadline for the merger.

The Biden administration has given U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel an extra six months to ditch their merger, keeping the deal alive as litigation unfolds over whether a national security panel’s review of it was tainted by political considerations.

The argument is even less credible considering Japan hosts more than 50,000 US troops and in 2023 changed its laws so US-designed Patriot Missiles produced in Japan could be sold to the US to replenish stocks that had dwindled due to substantial shipments to Ukraine.

Young Slams Biden For Blocking The Nippon Steel Deal: ‘No Substantiated Evidence’ To Justify It During Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) questioned Trump’s Housing and Urban Development Secretary Nominee Scott Turner,