Nippon Steel Corp. and United States Steel Corp. are on pace to finalize their $14.1 billion combination with US President Donald Trump’s administration ahead of a deal deadline later this month, capping an 18-month saga to combine the steelmakers into the world’s second-largest producer.

US Steel (NYSE:X) and Nippon Steel (OTCPK:NISTF) (OTCPK:NPSCY) are on pace to finalize their $14B merger, as talks on the deal between the companies and the Trump administration are ongoing and expected to reach a conclusion before a June 18 deal deadline,

This deal shows Trump was willing to look past his own preconceived ideas of what U.S. Steel should look like and toward the reality that billions of dollars of investment in well-paying steel jobs in the Rust Belt was too much to pass up.