How Trump’s Executive Order Made America the World’s Leading Proponent of Deep-Sea Mining
For many years, an international organization secretly controlled what happened to the world’s ocean floors while the United States largely watched from the sidelines. Washington observed, discussed, and occasionally offered commentary, but he never took any significant action. When President Trump signed an executive order on April 24, 2025, ordering federal agencies to expedite deep-sea mining both inside and outside of U.S. waters, that era came to an end. It was a dramatic change that, in some respects, has yet to fully sink in.
The order, “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources,” has clear goals. It focuses on polymetallic nodules, which are potato-sized, rocky deposits on the ocean floor that contain cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese—all of which are necessary for the manufacture of batteries. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a roughly 1.7 million square mile area of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico, is home to the richest known concentration of these nodules. They have not been successfully mined on a commercial scale by any nation. That appears to be something that the Trump administration is committed to changing.
This is partly motivated by worries about China. Washington is becoming more and more concerned about Beijing’s aggressive efforts to seize control of vital mineral supply chains around the world. Deep-sea mining is specifically framed in the executive order as a counterweight to Chinese dominance. That framing makes sense, but it’s important to consider whether doing the same, albeit more quickly, is the best way to stop one nation from rushing carelessly into a delicate ecosystem.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has started the official leasing process for mining operations close to American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands since the order was signed. In Pacific waters southeast of Hawaii, NOAA is pursuing exploration licenses. These plans are no longer just hypothetical. The equipment is in motion. Given that the United States currently lacks the processing infrastructure required to handle polymetallic nodules at scale, it’s still unclear how quickly commercial extraction could actually start, but the trend now seems unstoppable.
What scientists are attempting to say is what makes this especially difficult. There is more to the deep sea than just empty space. More than ten years ago, marine biologist Diva Amon used a remotely operated vehicle to survey the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and record life 2.5 miles below the surface. During one of the initial dives, an eight-foot-long tentacle-wielding creature that was probably a new species appeared attached to the stem of a sea sponge that was perched on one of the nodules that would eventually be extracted. She has described her response as a complex mixture of grief and excitement. That combination seems to do a pretty good job of capturing the overall situation.
At least a halt to deep-sea mining until the environmental risks are better understood has been demanded by more than 950 scientists from more than 70 countries. Concern has been voiced by Apple, Google, and about 70 other big companies. It is completely prohibited in the waters of American Samoa, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. Even taking into consideration the fact that different people oppose it for different reasons makes it difficult to ignore the scope of that opposition.
Observing all of this gives the impression that the administration sees the ocean floor the way earlier generations saw unexplored oil fields: as a resource issue that needs to be resolved rather than an ecosystem that should be carefully avoided. This White House isn’t the only one with that instinct, but it’s rarely used so quickly or with such minimal international cooperation. The International Seabed Authority, a UN-affiliated organization that has traditionally regulated mining in international waters, is specifically circumvented by the executive order, which critics claim sets a risky precedent for future actions by other countries.
It is genuinely unclear whether this risk will pay off in terms of the economy, geopolitics, or anything else. The potential for resources is genuine. There are actual environmental risks. It’s also true that the rest of the world is waiting to see what emerges from the depths of one of the planet’s last, mostly unexplored frontiers, where the United States has now raised a flag.
