A Trump executive order will unleash a global deep-sea mining boom
It will galvanise international co-operation over writing rules for the ocean bed
WHEN PRESIDENT Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 24th authorising seabed mining for critical minerals, he meant to free American companies from international constraints and license their roving hands to search for precious stones on the bottom of the deepest oceans—Earth’s last mining frontier. The order was a bombshell. Though America has never ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), under which the regulation of seabed mining sits, it had long accepted its provisions as customary international law. And the International Seabed Authority (ISA), created under UNCLOS, currently forbids mining.
Explore more
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The last frontier”
From the May 3rd 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
The 19th century is a terrible guide to modern statecraft
A world carved up between Presidents Trump, Xi and Putin would be unstable and unsafe
Putin’s radioactive chokehold on the world
The Kremlin dominates the cross-border business of nuclear fuel and technology
How South Africa could harness Donald Trump’s wrath
Talk of “white genocide” is baseless. But some American pressure could be helpful
Sex work in the gig economy
Sweden is banning OnlyFans content as the lines around sex work blur
Feckless Europe accepts Trump’s Lone Ranger diplomacy
It is meekly welcoming the new sheriff’s vigilante justice