HUTTO — President Donald Trump stated in a May 12 interview that he wants the federal government to acquire a 15% stake in the pending merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. “I got another one coming, a railroad. They want to expand. They want to merge, very big railroad, they want to merge. And I say, ‘Well, I want 15% of the railroad if you’re going to merge,’” Trump told Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell.

Trump added that railroad executives initially declined his proposal but predicted they would reverse course. “So they said ‘No,’ but they’ll say ‘Yes,’” he said. He also defended the idea as consistent with his negotiating style, stating, “I make one of those deals every day that no normal person would make. They actually say, ‘It’s very un-American.’ I said, ‘No, actually it’s very American.’”

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced on May 28 that it accepted the revised application for the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger but required additional information, temporarily pausing the review process. “There are several aspects of the revised application that are unclear or underdeveloped and require supplementation at this stage of the proceeding so that the board may have the information necessary to thoroughly evaluate—and the public has an adequate opportunity to comment on—whether the transaction is in the public interest,” the STB stated. The board added, “In a future decision, the board will establish an appropriate procedural schedule for the remainder of the proceeding.”

The proposed acquisition would be the largest railroad merger in U.S. history, uniting two of the four major freight railroads in the country. The freight rail industry is exempt from Federal Trade Commission antitrust review and is instead regulated by the STB under a “public interest” standard. In January, the STB rejected the initial merger application, citing incompleteness and calling for more analysis on congestion, pricing, and commodity impacts.

David Vernon, senior transportation analyst for Bernstein, expressed skepticism that the government could successfully negotiate a stake as part of the merger approval. “It would depend a lot on what the terms are,” Vernon said, allowing that a federal investment tied to specific economic security goals might be feasible. He added, “‘Write a check to get your merger approved’ seems less palatable. I guess that’s possible.”

The federal government has not owned a freight railroad since the 1920s, aside from the Alaska Railroad, which is now state-owned. The White House, the STB, Union Pacific, and Norfolk Southern did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the possibility of a federal ownership stake.