The White House is weighing an executive order that would fast-track permitting fordeep-seaminingin international waters and letminingcompanies bypass a United Nations-backed review process, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations.
If signed, the order would mark President Trump’slatest attempt to tap international deposits of nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy after recent efforts inGreenlandandUkraine. Trump earlier this month also invoked emergency powers to boostdomestic minerals production.
The International Seabed Authority — created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the U.S. has not ratified — hasfor years been considering standardsfor deep-seaminingin international waters, although it has yet to formalize themdue to unresolved differences over acceptable levels of dust, noise and other factors from the practice.
Trump’s deep-seaminingorder is likely to stipulate that the U.S. aims to exercise its rights to extract critical minerals on the ocean’s floor and let miners bypass the ISA and seek permitting through the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’sminingcode, according to the sources.
Such a step could giveminingcompanies a formal permitting process to complete and avoid the potential perception that they aim to mine the ocean’s floors without any oversight.
The plans are under discussion and could change before Trump signs the order, the sources said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Companies that aim to mine the seabed say they consider the practice’s environmental impacts to be significantly smaller thanminingon land, although multiple environmental groups say the practice should not be allowed to begin given the potential risks to marine life.
Any country can allow deep-seaminingin its own territorial waters, roughly 200 nautical miles from shore.Governments most interested in developing deep-seaminingindustries in their waters include the Cook Islands, Norway and Japan.
The 36-member ISA council met again in Kingston, Jamaica, earlier this month to review hundreds ofproposed amendmentsto a 256-page draftminingcode for international waters, although the meeting ended without resolution.
The ISA’s lack of progress led Vancouver-based The Metals Co. which is backed by metals giant Glencore– toformally ask Washingtonfor deep-seaminingpermits last Thursday.
The Metals Co. said “commercial industry is not welcome at the ISA” and that the U.S. is “a regulator willing to engage with the applicants and give applications a fair hearing.
The move would mark the latest step back by Trump’s White House from global institutions it sees as at odds with his “America First” economic policies. Trump last weekpaused contributionsto the World Trade Organization, sources told Reuters.
The move could also raise tensions with other nations competing for resources in international waters, and who believe permitting should be in the hands of a global body that oversees access and resolves disputes.
Part of Trump’s hunt for fresh sources of critical minerals has to do with efforts to reduce China’s broad control over their production and processing, with Beijing beginning toblock exports of key mineralsused in defense applications.
It was not immediately clear what kind of staffing NOAA would require to review deep-seaminingpermits. Like many U.S. federal government agencies, NOAA has seenjob cutsas part of Trump’s efficiency push withElon Musk.
Deep-seaminingis also more technically complex thanminingon land given the distance from shore, among other factors.
In a visit last week with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington aimed to partner with Kingston on energy-related projects, including “miningopportunities off the seabed.”
Beyond The Metals Co, other companies eyeing deep-seamininginclude California-based Impossible Metals, Russia’s JSC Yuzhmorgeologiya, Blue Minerals Jamaica, China Minmetals, and Kiribati’s Marawa Research and Exploration.
