Why Trump is signing an executive action on mining the deep ocean
President Donald Trump is trying to fast track a brand new
By Ella Nilsen, Laura Paddison, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is trying to fast track a brand new, highly controversial industry – mining critical minerals in the deep sea.
Trump will sign an executive order Thursday directing the secretaries of Interior and Commerce to speed up the exploration and permitting for deep sea mining off the US Outer Continental Shelf.
Senior administration officials estimate US water contain more than 1 billion metric tons of nodules, or deposits, of rare-earth minerals including copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc and manganese that are necessary for computer chips, batteries and other products needed for the clean energy transition.
China controls the vast majority of the world’s supply chain of these minerals, which has prompted a race among the rest of the world to discover and obtain more. As the US and China are embroiled in a trade war, China has restricted its exports of critical minerals to gain leverage over the US.
“For too long, we’ve been over reliant on foreign sources, and today this historic announcement marks a big step in the right direction to onshore these resources that are critical to national homeland security,” a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.
A second administration official added the Trump administration wants “the US to get ahead of China on this resource space.”
However, the US won’t be able to stand up an industry overnight, especially one that is relatively untested globally.
Trump’s order instructs the Secretary of Commerce to expedite the process to review and issue permits for exploration and commercial recovery and directs the Interior Secretary to set up a process for reviewing and approving permits and granting licenses within the US Outer Continental Shelf.
Companies and some countries have long pushed to mine the potentially lucrative deep-sea deposits.
The order will allow companies to bypass the International Seabed Authority, the UN-backed regulatory responsible for setting the rules which will govern this nascent industry.
The ISA has been trying to develop a mining code since 2021 but has yet to formalize one due to differences between countries over the potential impacts. Canada-based The Metals Company, one of the most high profile deep-sea mining companies, announced at the end of March that it would apply for authorization under the US mining regulations rather than going through the ISA process.
Scientists warn that mining the deep ocean, the planet’s least known ecosystem, could cause irreparable harm to marine life. Dozens of countries have called for a pause or some form of ban on deep sea mining until more is known about its impacts.
Deep sea mining companies say concerns are exaggerated and that deep sea mining offers a more sustainable way to extract these metals and minerals than land-based mining, which has well-documental environmental and human rights problems.
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