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The United States to Issue Licenses and Permits for Commercial Seabed Mining in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Part of:AJIL Contemporary Practice of the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2025

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Oceans, Environment, and Sciences
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American Journal of International Law , Volume 119 , Issue 3 , July 2025, pp. 579 - 586
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Society of International Law

President Donald J. Trump has directed the expedited review and issuance of licenses and permits for seabed mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction.Footnote 1 Within days of the president’s order, the U.S. subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian deep sea minerals collection and processing firm, submitted applications to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for two exploration licenses and a commercial recovery permit for mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a 4.5 million square kilometer area of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico that is rich in polymetallic nodules.Footnote 2 This would be the first time that the United States has authorized the commercial harvesting of minerals from the deep seabed. The U.S. government’s unliteral issuance of such licenses and permits would conflict with the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) regulation of deep seabed mining under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and undermine the Convention’s goals and the ISA’s collective processes. The executive order, and related actions that include an application by the U.S. company Impossible Metals for mining in U.S. waters and the conclusion of the Ukraine minerals deal,Footnote 3 extend the work of the Biden administration in encouraging the creation of a secure U.S. supply chain for critical minerals, including mining and processing, to counter dependence on China for these core components of advanced technologies.Footnote 4

The commercial recovery of minerals from the seabed, long anticipated but until now economically and technologically prohibitive, has become increasingly conceivable, as the mechanisms for mapping, exploration, and collection have progressed and the desire for, and the value of, those minerals, important for batteries, electronics, clean technologies, and military applications, have motivated public and private investment worldwide.Footnote 5 The form of seabed minerals varies, including sulfide deposits and manganese crusts, but current operations are mainly focused on the retrieval of potato-sized polymetallic nodules, comprised of highly sought-after metals such as cobalt, copper, manganese, and nickel. TMC has developed a device that vacuums nodules from the seafloor and sends them to the surface through a tube, while Impossible Metals plans to collect them with robotic arms before bringing them up to waiting vessels.Footnote 6 One study has concluded that the “[n]odules [that are strewn across] the CCZ[’s] [seafloor] have more [Thallium, Manganese, Tellurium, Nickel, Cobalt, and Yttrium] than the entire global terrestrial reserve base for those metals,” as well as “significant amounts” of copper, lithium, and other metals.Footnote 7 TMC’s exploration application covers an area that is estimated to contain 1,635 million wet metric tons of polymetallic nodules, including about 15.5 million metric tons of nickel, 12.8 million metric tons of copper, 2 million metric tons of cobalt, and 345 million metric tons of manganese.Footnote 8 One estimate puts the total value of all seabed minerals at $20 trillion.Footnote 9

As the likelihood of commercial deep-sea mining has grown, so have concerns about its environmental impact.Footnote 10 Work on the seabed at an industrial scale could significantly alter this largely unknown and fragile habitat,Footnote 11 with potentially long-lasting effects on the abyssal plain, including biodiversity loss, from both the nodules’ removal and the means by which they are removed.Footnote 12 Vacuuming nodules to the surface, as planned by TMC, would result in the dumping of extraneous materials into the water column, creating plumes of sediment and debris floating through, and likely causing harm to, the pelagic ecosystem.Footnote 13 Pollution of various types (noise, light, vibration, and harmful products) stemming from operations above and below the surface could harm marine life. Mining companies contest deep-sea mining’s impact on the marine environment, and they argue that it may, overall, be beneficial, as it will have the effect of reducing the demand for terrestrial mining and its attendant harms.Footnote 14 Because of its possible, if uncertain, consequences, thirty-three states have called for either a moratorium, a precautionary pause, or a ban on deep-sea mining in international waters.Footnote 15 Sixty-four major companies have also endorsed a moratorium.Footnote 16

UNCLOS sets out a comprehensive regime governing “the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction,” which it labels the “Area.”Footnote 17 The treaty declares that “[t]he Area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind.”Footnote 18 It precludes states from “claim[ing] or exercis[ing] sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part of the Area or its resources” or the appropriation thereof.Footnote 19 It proscribes any “State or natural or juridical person” from “claim[ing], acquir[ing] or exercis[ing] rights with respect to the minerals recovered from the Area except in accordance with” its provisions.Footnote 20 It stipulates that “[a]ctivities in the Area shall … be carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole,” and that the ISA “shall provide for the equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits derived from activities in the Area … on a non-discriminatory basis.”Footnote 21 And, among its many other provisions, UNCLOS directs that “[n]ecessary measures … be taken … with respect to activities in the Area to ensure effective protection for the marine environment.”Footnote 22

UNCLOS established the ISA to “organise and control activities” in the Area, in particular its resources,Footnote 23 and tasked it with developing regulations for “exploration and exploitation.”Footnote 24 Pursuant to its exploration regulations,Footnote 25 the ISA has issued thirty-one fifteen-year exploration contracts, including two in the CCZ with TMC subsidiaries Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited, sponsored by Nauru and Tonga.Footnote 26 But the ISA has not issued exploitation regulations, which would permit mining, despite more than a decade of work,Footnote 27 a road map that called for their adoption by 2020,Footnote 28 a 2023 deadline triggered by Nauru,Footnote 29 and a 2025 goal set by the ISA’s Council.Footnote 30 Though the treaty provision that Nauru activated now requires the Council to “consider and provisionally approve” an application for exploitation even though exploitation regulations have not yet been adopted, the Council has repeated stated that any mining in the Area “should not be carried out in the absence of” regulations.Footnote 31 In late 2024, Nauru notified the ISA that NORI will submit a plan of work for exploitation by the end of June 2025, and that it expects the Council to provisionally approve the application.Footnote 32

The United States is not a party to UNCLOS, though U.S. officials have often stated that “much of the convention reflects customary international law” and though a 1994 agreement resolved U.S. objections to the UNCLOS’s seabed mining provisions that had initially impeded U.S. ratification.Footnote 33 It is thus only an ISA observer state, not a member.Footnote 34 Under U.S. law, deep seabed mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction is governed under by the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, enacted in 1980, two years before UNCLOS’s adoption.Footnote 35 The law, intended to be a stopgap until a comprehensive law of the sea treaty went into force,Footnote 36 provides for the issuance of exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits and includes requirements for the use of best available technologies for the protection of the environment.Footnote 37 It also disclaims that the law’s passage indicates any assertion by the United States of “sovereignty or sovereign or exclusive rights or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any areas of resources in the deep seabed.”Footnote 38 In 1984, a decade before UNCLOS went into force, NOAA issued four exploration licenses (all for the CCZ), but none since.Footnote 39 Two of the licenses, both now held by Lockheed Martin, are still active, though no at-sea activities are currently being conducted.Footnote 40 NOAA has issued no recovery permits to date. Since the ISA’s establishment, the United States has abstained from taking any action regarding deep sea mining in the Area, aside from the routine renewals of exploration licenses, effectively ceding the field to the ISA.Footnote 41

President Trump’s executive order reverses that practice. It seeks to “Unleash[] America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources” to take on the “unprecedented economic and national security challenges in securing reliable supplies of critical minerals independent of foreign adversary control.”Footnote 42 The order directs the secretaries of commerce and the interior, respectively, to expedite the process of reviewing and approving applicable licenses, permits, and leases for the exploration and recovery of seabed minerals in areas beyond national jurisdiction and in the U.S. outer continental shelf.Footnote 43 While the order encourages coordination with allies and industry in the development of seabed mining, including through mapping, it omits entirely any reference to international law or the ISA. Describing deep sea mining as “the next gold rush,” NOAA stated that it “is committed to an expeditious review of applications.”Footnote 44 Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Erik Noble said that, “[w]ith this Executive Order, the President is paving the way for supply chain resilience and a thriving domestic manufacturing industry.”Footnote 45

The United States’s unilateral action was widely condemned as a violation of international law.Footnote 46 ISA Secretary-General Leticia Reis de Carvalho said that the order was “a matter of the rule of law within the global ocean governance.”Footnote 47 She asserted that “no State has the right to unilaterally exploit the mineral resources of the Area outside the legal framework established by UNCLOS. It is common understanding that this prohibition is binding on all States, including those that have not ratified UNCLOS.”Footnote 48 A spokesperson for the European Commission agreed.Footnote 49 A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson similarly stated that “[t]he exploration and exploitation of minerals in the international seabed area must be carried out in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and under the framework of the International Seabed Authority.”Footnote 50 “The U.S. move to authorize exploration and exploitation of mineral resources,” he concluded, “violates international law and harms the collective interests of the international community.”Footnote 51

Given the increasing importance of critical minerals, the ISA’s inability to finalize exploitation regulations, and the Trump administration’s general disdain for multilateralism, it is not surprising that TMC and the United States have moved forward on their own.Footnote 52 China’s control of the critical minerals trade, and its recent leverage of that control in its trade relationship with the United States, which was long anticipated, has created urgency for the United States, as a matter of economic and national security, to seek alternative means of acquiring those minerals.Footnote 53 TMC, which has invested over half a billion dollars into deep sea mining research, grew tired of waiting for the ISA to conclude its regulations.Footnote 54 “I’m not sure why ISA member states act surprised that TMC is now looking at an alternative, long-standing regulatory regime,” TMC Chairman and CEO Gerard Barron said.Footnote 55 “Member states cannot have it both ways—expressing shock while repeatedly breaching UNCLOS and failing to deliver the regulatory clarity they committed to years ago,” he continued.Footnote 56 In testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee, Barron said that the time it has taken for the ISA to agree to the exploitation regulations is part of “a deliberate strategy by activists, land mining nations, and green coalition governments to stall by any means necessary.”Footnote 57 He argued that through deep sea mining “America can end critical mineral dependence [on China] … and create over 100,000 American jobs and generate hundreds of billions in GDP.”Footnote 58

If the United States grants TMC a commercial recovery permit, the ISA may feel compelled to move more expeditiously on the adoption of exploitation regulations and the granting of exploitation contracts, lest other countries decide to proceed unilaterally themselves for fear of being left behind.Footnote 59

Footnotes

1 See Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources, Exec. Order 14285, Sec. 3(a), 90 Fed. Reg. 17735, 17736 (Apr. 24, 2025) [hereinafter Offshore Critical Minerals Executive Order].

2 See The Metals Company Press Release, World First: TMC USA Submits Application for Commercial Recovery of Deep-Sea Minerals in the High Seas Under U.S. Seabed Mining Code (Apr. 29, 2025), at https://investors.metals.co/news-releases/news-release-details/world-first-tmc-usa-submits-application-commercial-recovery-deep [https://perma.cc/2XWP-BGB8] [hereinafter TMC Press Release]; The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Pew Charitable Trust (Dec. 15, 2017), at https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2017/12/the-clarion-clipperton-zone [https://perma.cc/545T-Z6ZS]. TMC had been in discussions with the Trump administration for “several months.” Clara Hudson, Deep-Sea Miner Seeks U.S. License After Trump Order, Wall St. J. (Apr. 29, 2025), at https://www.wsj.com/articles/deep-sea-miner-seeks-u-s-license-after-trump-order-caa00c43. TMC announced in late March that it would apply for licenses and permits and had already “requested a pre-application consultation with NOAA.” The Metals Company Press Release, The Metals Company to Apply for Permits Under Existing U.S. Mining Code for Deep-Sea Minerals in the High Seas in Second Quarter of 2025 (Mar. 27, 2025), at https://investors.metals.co/news-releases/news-release-details/metals-company-apply-permits-under-existing-us-mining-code-deep [https://perma.cc/PFU7-DA5X].

3 In April 2025, Impossible Metals requested a lease sale to explore and mine in the U.S. outer continental shelf off the coast of American Samoa. The Department of the Interior announced that is initiating the lease sale process. See U.S. Dep’t of the Interior Press Release, Interior Launches Process for Potential Offshore Mineral Lease Sale Near American Samoa (May 20, 2025), at https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-launches-process-potential-offshore-mineral-lease-sale-near-american-samoa [https://perma.cc/UZ9M-Z8BZ]; Impossible Metals Press Release, Impossible Metals Applies for Deep Sea Mining Lease in U.S. Federal Waters (Apr. 15, 2025), at https://impossiblemetals.com/blog/impossible-metals-applies-for-deep-sea-mining-lease-in-u-s-federal-waters [https://perma.cc/2A2G-C445]. Seabed mining in a state’s own continental shelf is permitted by UNCLOS, and countries and territories in addition to the United States, including the Cook Islands, India, Japan, Norway, and Papua New Guinea, have authorized or investigated mining in their own waters. See Elizabeth Claire Alberts, With Deep-Sea Mining Plans in Limbo, Norwegian Companies Fold or Dig In, Mongabay (Apr. 22, 2025), at https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/with-deep-sea-mining-plans-in-limbo-norwegian-companies-fold-or-dig-in; Priyanka Shankar, India Advances Deep-Sea Mining Technology in the Andaman Sea, Mongabay (Nov. 21, 2024), at https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/india-advances-deep-sea-mining-technology-in-the-andaman-sea; Inside the Race to Mine $92 Billion Worth of Deep Sea Minerals, Wall St. J. (July 29, 2024), at https://www.wsj.com/video/series/wsj-explains/inside-the-race-to-mine-92-billion-worth-of-deep-sea-minerals/316A1734-F5F9-4C12-AD8E-E9E5B6C7585F; Pete McKenzie, The Tiny Nation at the Vanguard of Mining the Ocean Floor, N.Y. Times (May 9, 2024), at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/world/asia/cook-islands-seabed-mining.html; Annelise Giseburt, Japan Prepares to Mine Its Deep Seabed by Decade’s End, Mongabay (Mar. 21, 2024), at https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/japan-prepares-to-mine-its-deep-seabed-by-decades-end; Esme Stallard, Deep-Sea Mining: Norway Approves Controversial Practice, BBC (Jan. 9, 2024), at https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67893808.

4 See, e.g., Ian Lovett, The U.S. Has a Deal for Ukraine’s Minerals. Accessing Them Won’t Be Easy, Wall St. J. (May 1, 2025), at https://www.wsj.com/world/a-look-at-the-ukrainian-minerals-that-trump-wants-54edb78a; Trump Emergency Move Aims to Cut Approval Times for Energy Projects to 28 Days, Reuters (Apr. 24, 2025), at https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/trump-emergency-move-aims-cut-approval-times-energy-projects-28-days-2025-04-24; Ernest Scheyder, Trump to Fast-Track Permitting for 10 Mining Projects Across US, Reuters (Apr. 18, 2025), at https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/trump-fast-track-permitting-10-mining-projects-across-us-2025-04-18; Lisa Friedman, Trump Administration Opens More Public Land to Drilling and Mining, N.Y. Times (Apr. 8, 2025), at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/climate/trump-new-mexico-nevada-mining-drilling.html; Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, Exec. Order 14241, 90 Fed. Reg. 13673 (Mar. 20, 2025); Jacob Katz Cogan, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 119 AJIL 161, 168 (2025); Gracelin Baskaran & Duncan Wood, eds., Critical Minerals and the Future of the U.S. Economy, CSIS, 39–70 (2025), at https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2025-02/250210_Baskaran_Critical_Minerals.pdf [https://perma.cc/C8TS-2BNU]; Keith Bradsher, China Halts Critical Exports as Trade War Intensifies, N.Y. Times (Apr. 14, 2025), at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html.

5 Whether deep-sea mining is economically practicable remains to be seen.

6 See Daniel Ackerman, The World Has No Rulebook for Deep-Sea Mining. One Company Is Pushing Forward Anyway, NPR (Mar. 28, 2025), at https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5336319/international-deep-sea-mining-critical-metals-seabed.

7 See James R. Hein et al., Deep-Ocean Mineral Deposits as a Source of Critical Metals for High- and Green-Technology Applications: Comparison with Land-Based Resources, 51 Ore Geology Revs. 1 (June 2013).

8 See TMC Press Release, supra note 2.

9 See Eric Niiler, The Science Behind Mining for Riches on the Deep-Sea Floor, Wall St. J. (May 17, 2025), at https://www.wsj.com/science/environment/deep-sea-mining-metals-minerals-31c122a9.

10 Rebecca Dzombak, Max Bearak & Harry Stevens, The Trump Administration Wants Seafloor Mining. What Does That Mean?, N.Y. Times (Apr. 25, 2025), at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/climate/seafloor-mining-science.html.

11 For a description of the biodiversity, see, for example, International Seabed Authority, Deep CCZ Biodiversity Synthesis Workshop, Friday Harbor, Washington, USA, 1–4 October 2019: Workshop Report (2019), at https://www.isa.org.jm/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Deep-CCZ-Biodiversity-Synthesis-Workshop-Report-Final-for-posting-clean-1.pdf [https://perma.cc/2VX5-V7PC]; and Nicky Jenner, Sophie Benbow, Catherine Weller & Pippa Howard, Update to “An Assessment of the Risks and Impacts of Seabed Mining on Marine Ecosystems,” NOAA Off. Ocean Exploration & Research (2023), at https://www.fauna-flora.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fauna-flora-deep-sea-mining-update-report-march-23.pdf [https://perma.cc/MH73-MVXF].

12 See Daniel O. B. Jones et al., Long-Term Impact and Biological Recovery in a Deep-Sea Mining Track, 642 Nature 112 (2025).

13 See Bernd Christiansen, Anneke Denda & Sabine Christiansen, Potential Effects of Deep Seabed Mining on Pelagic and Benthopelagic Biota, 114 Marine Pol’y (2020).

14 See Niiler, supra note 9; Dzombak, Bearak & Stevens, supra note 10; Ernest Scheyder & Jarrett Renshaw, Trump Signs Executive Order Boosting Deep-Sea Mining Industry, Reuters (Apr. 24, 2025), at https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-expected-sign-deep-sea-mining-executive-order-thursday-sources-2025-04-24.

15 Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Voices Calling for a Moratorium: Governments and Parliamentarians, at https://deep-sea-conservation.org/solutions/no-deep-sea-mining/momentum-for-a-moratorium/governments-and-parliamentarians [https://perma.cc/M65R-CJZB].

16 See WWF Deep Sea Mining, Business Statement Supporting a Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining, at https://www.stopdeepseabedmining.org/statement [https://perma.cc/M9DU-MML8]; WWF Deep Sea Mining, Endorsers, at https://www.stopdeepseabedmining.org/endorsers [https://perma.cc/K8RD-KNLQ].

17 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Art. 1(1)(1), opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, 1833 UNTS 397.

18 Id. Art. 136.

19 Id. Art. 137(1).

20 Id. Art. 137(3).

21 Id. Art. 140.

22 Id. Art. 145.

23 Id. Art. 157(1).

24 Id. Art. 153(1).

25 See Decision of the Council of the International Seabed Authority Relating to Amendments to the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area and Related Matters, ISBA/19/C/17 (July 22, 2013); Decision of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority Relating to the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Sulphides in the Area, ISBA/16/A/12/Rev. 1 (May 7, 2010); Decision of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority Relating to the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Cobalt-Rich Ferromanganese Crusts in the Area, ISBA/18/A/11 (July 27, 2012).

26 See International Seabed Authority, Exploration Contracts, at https://www.isa.org.jm/exploration-contracts [https://perma.cc/Q864-XAU5]; TMC The Metals Company Inc, Form 10-K, at 19 (Mar. 27, 2025), at https://investors.metals.co/static-files/fde372d9-45f6-4269-a7bf-801382f2e78d [https://perma.cc/9TX8-QZWG] [hereinafter TMC Form 10-K]. Until earlier this year, TMC and a Kiribati state-owned company with an ISA exploration contract, Marawa Research and Exploration Ltd., were parties to an option agreement that gave TMC exploration rights in the CCZ. See Stephen Wright, Pacific Nation of Kiribati Explores Deep Sea Mining Deal with China, Radio Free Asia (Mar. 17, 2025), at https://www.rfa.org/english/environment/2025/03/17/environment-kirbati-china-deep-sea-mining-tmc; TMC Form 10-K, supra note 26, at 19, 124. Private entities require the sponsorship of an UNCLOS state party to be eligible to carry out activities in the Area. See UNCLOS, supra note 17, Art. 153(2)(b).

27 See International Seabed Authority, The Mining Code: Draft Exploitation Regulations, at https://www.isa.org.jm/the-mining-code/draft-exploitation-regulations-2 [https://perma.cc/F849-MMFL].

28 See Decision to the Council of the International Seabed Authority Relating to the Report of the Chair of the Legal and Technical Commission, para. 4, ISBA/23/C/18 (Aug. 14, 2017); Report of the Chair of the Legal and Technical Commission on the Work of the Commission at Its Session in 2017, Annex, ISBA/23/C/13 (Aug. 9, 2017).

29 See Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, Annex, Sec. 1(15)(b), July 28, 1994, 1836 UNTS 3 [hereinafter Part XI Agreement]; Letter Dated 30 June 2021 from the President of the Council of the International Seabed Authority Addressed to the Members of the Council, Annex I, ISBA/26/C/38 (July 1, 2021); Decision of the Council of the International Seabed Authority on a Timeline Following the Expiration of the Two-Year Period Pursuant to Section 1, Paragraph 15, of the Annex to the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, para. 1, ISBA/28/C/24 (July 21, 2023) [hereinafter Council Decision].

30 Council Decision, supra note 29, para. 1.

31 Part XI Agreement, supra note 29, Sec. 1(15)(c); Decision of the Council of the International Seabed Authority Relating to the Understanding and Application of Section 1, Paragraph 15, of the Annex to the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, ISBA/28/C/9 (Mar. 31, 2023); Decision of the Council of the International Seabed Authority Relating to the Understanding and Application of Section 1, Paragraph 15, of the Annex to the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, pmbl. para. 2, ISBA/28/C/25 (July 21, 2023).

32 See Letter of David Aingimea, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Nauru to the International Seabed Authority to Republic of Nauru to the President of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (Nov. 12, 2024), at https://www.isa.org.jm/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Nauru-Letter-to-ISA-Council-President-re-Process-for-Plan-of-Work_10112024.pdf [https://perma.cc/6BM8-NYHC]; Explanatory Non-paper: Proposed Procedure for Consideration and Provisional Approval of Applications for Plans of Work for Exploitation Under Paragraph 15(c) of the 1994 Agreement, para. 3 (Mar. 2025), at https://www.isa.org.jm/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Explanatory_Non_Paper_Proposed_Procedure_for_Consideration-and-Provisional-Approval-of-Applications-for-Plans-of-Work-for-Exploitation-under-Paragraph-15c-of-the-1994-Agreement-1.pdf [https://perma.cc/6NMN-DEWS]; see also The Metals Company Press Release, TMC Announces June 27, 2025 Submission Date for Subsidiary NORI’s ISA Application, and Expanded Company Strategy (Nov. 12, 2024), at https://investors.metals.co/news-releases/news-release-details/tmc-announces-june-27-2025-submission-date-subsidiary-noris-isa [https://perma.cc/3F6L-KQFZ].

33 See, e.g., U.S. Department of State Press Release, Assistant Secretary Monica Medina Remarks: The Constitution of the Sea (Dec. 8, 2022), at https://2021-2025.state.gov/assistant-secretary-monica-medina-remarks-un-convention-on-the-law-of-the-sea-40th-anniversary [https://perma.cc/A6LK-VTKE]. The United States has not indicated that Part XI of UNCLOS, which covers the Area, reflects customary international law. On President Ronald Reagan’s decision not to sign UNCLOS, see Bernard Gwertzman, U.S. Will Not Sign Sea Law Treaty, N.Y. Times, at 5 (July 10, 1982). For the 1994 agreement, see Part XI Agreement, supra note 29.

34 See International Seabed Authority, Observers, at https://www.isa.org.jm/observers [https://perma.cc/5AGU-HPYV].

35 Pub. L. 96–283, 94 Stat. 553 (June 28, 1980) (codified at 30 U.S.C. §§ 1401–1473).

36 See 30 U.S.C. § 1441.

37 See 30 U.S.C. §§ 1412, 1419, 1420.

38 30 U.S.C. § 1402(a)(2).

39 See U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, Deep Seabed Mining: Report to Congress 9 (Dec. 1987), at https://www.gc.noaa.gov/documents/gcil_dsm_87_20110607084359.pdf [https://perma.cc/E9ZS-WTS4].

40 See Deep Seabed Mining: Approval of Exploration License Extensions, Deep Seabed Hard Minerals, 87 Fed. Reg. 52743 (Aug. 29, 2022); Request for Extension of Exploration Licenses; Comments Request, 87 Fed. Reg. 15408 (Mar. 18, 2022); Deep Seabed Mining; Lapse of Exploration License, 64 Fed. Reg. 35631 (July 1, 1999).

41 When the United States signed the Part XI Agreement, supra note 29, it “indicated that it intend[ed] to apply [the agreement] provisionally pending ratification” in order to “permit the advancement of U.S. seabed mining interests by U.S. participation in the [ISA] from the [organization’s] outset.” Message from the President of the United States Transmitting United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (with Annexes and 1994 Agreement), at VIII, S. Treaty Doc. 103-39 (1994), at https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/treaty_103-39.pdf [https://perma.cc/QN8X-2J6K]. The United States, though, has not stated that it was deferring to the ISA’s processes out of a sense of legal obligation.

42 Offshore Critical Minerals Executive Order, supra note 1, Sec. 1.

43 Id., Secs. 3(a)(i), 3(b)(i).

44 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Press Release, “The Next Gold Rush”: President Trump Unlocks Access to Critical Deep Seabed Minerals (Apr. 25, 2025), at https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/next-gold-rush-president-trump-unlocks-access-to-critical-deep-seabed-minerals [https://perma.cc/BH7D-ZW3X].

45 Id.

46 TMC’s announcement at the end of March 2025 that it would apply for mining permits from the Trump administration occurred while the ISA Council was meeting. The news was met with broad condemnation by members of the Council. See Eric Lipton, Trump-Era Pivot on Seabed Mining Draws Global Rebuke, N.Y. Times (Mar. 30, 2025), at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/us/politics/trump-mining-metals-company.html; Summary of the Thirtieth Annual Session of the International Seabed Authority (First Part): 17–28 March 2025, at 22, IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin (Mar. 31, 2025), at https://enb.iisd.org/sites/default/files/2025-03/enb25257e.pdf [https://perma.cc/6HAK-8UR8].

47 International Seabed Authority Press Release, Statement on the US Executive Order: “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources” (Apr. 30, 2025), at https://www.isa.org.jm/news/statement-on-the-us-executive-order-unleashing-americas-offshore-critical-minerals-and-resources [https://perma.cc/5MNU-Z9FH] [hereinafter ISA Secretary-General’s Statement]; see also International Seabed Authority Press Release, Statement by Madam Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, Leticia Carvalho (Mar. 28, 2025), at https://www.isa.org.jm/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Statement_Announcement-by-The-Metals-Company.pdf [https://perma.cc/6GLL-27CP] (“Any unilateral action would constitute a violation of international law and directly undermine the fundamental principles of multilateralism, the peaceful use of the oceans and the collective governance framework established under UNCLOS.”).

48 ISA Secretary-General’s Statement, supra note 47.

49 Robert Hodgson, European Commission Questions Legality of US Seabed Mining Plans, Euronews (Apr. 28, 2025), at https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/28/european-commission-questions-legality-of-us-seabed-mining-plans.

50 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Press Release, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun’s Regular Press Conference (Apr. 25, 2025), at https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xw/fyrbt/lxjzh/202504/t20250425_11604503.html [https://perma.cc/WAQ8-V7RZ].

51 Id.

52 See Jacob Katz Cogan, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 119 AJIL 313, 314 (2025).

53 See Giulia Petroni, Critical Minerals Supply Risks Mount Amid China’s Grip, Export Curbs, Wall St. J. (May 21, 2025), at https://www.wsj.com/finance/commodities-futures/critical-minerals-supply-risks-mount-amid-chinas-grip-export-curbs-f4b2f666.

54 See TMC Press Release, supra note 2.

55 Todd Woody, Miner’s Bid to Tap Seabed Pits UN-Backed Regulators Against Trump, Bloomberg (Mar. 29, 2025), at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-29/canadian-company-seeking-trump-s-approval-to-mine-seabed-condemned-by-regulators.

56 Id.; see also The Metals Company Press Release, CEO Statement on ISA and USA (Mar. 2025), at https://metals.co/ceo-statement-on-isa-and-usa [https://perma.cc/PJQ5-B5PY].

57 Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Exploring the Potential of Deep-Sea Mining to Expand American Mineral Production, YouTube, at 31:38 (Apr. 29, 2025), at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75cordV8Wo.

58 Id. at 32:48.

59 This may have been TMC’s strategy. If it was, though, it may be a pyrrhic victory for the company. TMC USA’s permit application with NOAA could lead to the cancellation of TMC’s subsidiaries’ ISA exploration contracts and the denial of any applications its subsidiaries might make for an exploitation contracts. See International Seabed Authority Press Release, FAQs for the Media about the International Seabed Authority and Deep-Sea Mining, at https://www.isa.org.jm/faq-for-media [https://perma.cc/N8BA-Z9V3].