US President Donald Trump has told aides and allies that he is considering removing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after a Supreme Court defeat on adding a citizenship question to the census, NBC News reported on Monday.

Trump retreated on Thursday from adding a contentious question on citizenship to the 2020 census but insisted he was not giving up his fight to count how many non-citizens are in the country and ordered government agencies to mine their databases.

Although Trump has previously been frustrated with Ross, in particular over some failed trade negotiations, the 81-year-old commerce secretary has so far kept his job.

However, the network reported early Monday, that Trump has been making calls to "allies outside the White House about replacing Ross."

The White House did not comment to the network.