Seabed Mining Is a New Front in the US Versus the World
Trump has effectively fired the starting gun for an international free-for-all on extracting minerals from the ocean floor.
A new front.
Photographer: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getting Images
Another chunk of that crumbling edifice known as Pax Americana just fell into the sea — and sank right to the bottom. A would-be deep sea miner’s application for a US license to exploit a patch of the Pacific seabed, triggered by an executive order from President Donald Trump, marks a fundamental break with the so-called rules-based order as it pertains to the deep. As with so much US policy these days, the order identifies a real challenge but addresses it with all the subtlety of a depth charge.
The Metals Company Inc., based in Canada, is seeking a license from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to exploit almost 10,000 square miles of the ocean floor beneath international waters between Mexico and Hawaii. It is a relative speck within the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area bigger than India hailed as a new Klondike for coveted metals. Trump signed an order last week directing NOAA to start dispensing such licenses with urgency, disregarding the role of the International Seabed Authority.