President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that turbo-charges America’s push to mine the ocean floor.
The White House says this move will secure the nation’s supply of strategic metals and create high-wage jobs in a brand-new domestic industry.
Titled “Revitalizing American Dominance in Deep Seabed Minerals,” the order directs the Commerce Department to fast-track permits for commercial exploration and recovery on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf while tasking the Interior Department with crafting a parallel program for coastal seabed mining.
Administration officials say the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone holds an estimated 34 billion tons of potato-sized “polymetallic nodules” rich in nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper—metals vital to electric-vehicle batteries, precision weapons, and consumer electronics.
With China currently controlling most of the world’s critical-mineral supply chains and threatening to tighten export bans, the White House argues that opening the seabed will fortify U.S. economic and national security.
The order also instructs the secretaries of Commerce, Interior, and Energy to map high-priority areas, survey private-sector interest, and report on ways to streamline licensing so American firms can move faster than their foreign rivals.
By allowing companies to operate without the lengthy approvals required by the United Nations–backed International Seabed Authority, officials say the United States can leap ahead in a field that has never been developed at a commercial scale.
Industry boosters predict billions in investment, thousands of manufacturing jobs, and a stronger bargaining position against Beijing.
Environmental groups counter that scraping the seafloor could destroy fragile habitats, kick up toxic plumes, and endanger deep-sea corals and sponges that evolved over millions of years.
The administration responds that strict monitoring and modern extraction technology will keep ecological risks in check while delivering metals essential to everything from smartphones to stealth fighters.
This action follows a string of Trump initiatives aimed at expanding domestic resource production, including last year’s approval of remote Alaskan mining along the Ambler Access corridor.
Thursday’s directive came alongside a separate order tightening probation periods for federal employees to raise workforce standards and a memorandum instructing the attorney general to crack down on foreign “straw donor” schemes. Together, the measures underscore the administration’s broader push to shore up national security, supply chains, and government efficiency.