Trump Signs Order to Surge Deep-Sea Mineral Mining

The minerals in certain areas of the Pacific Ocean are valued in the trillions of dollars, according to a recent scientific report.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders relating to higher education institutions, alongside Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (L) and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon (R), in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 23, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 24 fast-tracking a new industry, offshore deep-sea mineral mining in the Pacific Ocean.

Trump’s order, titled “Revitalizing American Dominance in Deep Seabed Minerals,” seeks to rapidly develop America’s ability to explore, collect, and process critical deep-seabed minerals. It directs the commerce secretary to surge the exploration and private sector permitting for deep-sea mining off the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

The order also instructs the secretaries of commerce, interior, and energy to provide a report on private sector interest and opportunities in deep-seabed mining for mineral nodules and “other seabed mineral resource[s],” while also developing a plan to map priority areas within the seabed to “accelerate data collection.”

Deep-sea mineral deposits can take various forms, including what are called “polymetallic nodules,” or potato-sized mineral clumps with large concentrations of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper, which require millions of years to develop at several miles below sea level, according to a 2024 report from the Berkeley Scientific Journal.

An area in the Pacific Ocean just southeast of Hawaii, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, has an abundance of these nodules, the report noted, estimated to be 34 billion wet metric tons. The metals contained within are estimated to be worth roughly $10 trillion, according to the Berkeley report.

China dominates the world supply chains for nearly all critical mineral sources, including the metals found in the deep-sea nodules, according to a 2022 report from the RAND Corporation. This has led many countries, especially the United States, to look for opportunities to curb China’s influence.

In response to new tariffs, China has moved to block its exports of critical minerals to America.

Trump’s order, according to the White House, would increase American critical mineral production. It would also likely allow private companies to bypass the International Seabed Authority, the main United Nations-backed regulatory body that creates rules for seabed exploration.

Currently, according to Berkeley, that body has issued exploration permits for the ocean floor for deep-sea mineral deposits, but as of last year, it had not yet issued active commercial deep-sea mining permits. Many companies have pushed for the International Seabed Authority to approve commercial mining in the deep sea.

However, deep-sea mining does not come without a price, according to the Berkeley report.

The mining operations could “disturb the habitats of various organisms and disrupt non-food-chain-related interactions in the deep-sea ecosystems like how organisms find shelter,” the report noted, as the metal nodules provide “vital substrate for organisms like sea sponges and corals.”

Removing them could have significant environmental impacts on the organisms that rely on them for survival, according to the Berkeley report.

Trump’s order continues his administration’s efforts to increase U.S. energy and mineral production and supply, with a previous order advancing the “Ambler Access Project,” commercial mining along a 211-mile industrial road in remote Northwest Alaska that is rich in copper, zinc, and other materials, the White House said.