{"id":32212,"date":"2025-07-21T17:03:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=32212"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:24:07","slug":"seabed-mining-firm-faces-legal-questions-over-trump-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=32212","title":{"rendered":"Seabed-Mining Firm Faces Legal Questions Over Trump Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

After Trump pledged to open international waters to mining, The Metals Company sought U.S. permits. But other countries are raising legal concerns.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Two months ago, President Trump took an extraordinary step<\/a> toward issuing permits to mine vast tracts of the ocean floor in international waters where valuable minerals are abundant.<\/p>\n

It was a boon to The Metals Company, an ambitious start-up that had already spent more than half a billion dollars preparing to become the world\u2019s first commercial seabed miner. Within days of Trump\u2019s executive order, the company submitted its application to the federal government.<\/p>\n

As a result, some of the company\u2019s international partners are now questioning their relationships with The Metals Company. Trump\u2019s order conflicts with a longstanding treaty known as the Law of the Sea, potentially exposing them to legal risks.<\/p>\n

The issue with The Metals Company\u2019s seabed-mining application is that nearly every country in the world, but not the United States, has signed the Law of the Sea treaty. Its language is clear: Mining in areas outside a country\u2019s territorial waters before nations agree on how to handle the practice is not just a breach of international law, but it is also an affront to \u201cthe common heritage of mankind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

In May, a Japanese firm<\/a> that The Metals Company has partnered with in the past to process minerals from seabed-mining test runs, said it was \u201ccarefully discussing the matter with T.M.C.,\u201d citing the importance of doing business with companies \u201cvia a route that has earned international credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\t<!–><\/p>\n

[–><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

<!–>Treasure on the Ocean Floor<\/strong>–><\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<!–><\/p>\n
[!–><\/div>\n

<!–><\/p><\/div>\n

]–><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<!–><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

–> <\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

<!–>Source: Flanders Marine Institute<\/a>, International Seabed Authority<\/a>–><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<!–><\/figure>\n

–> <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Trump pledged to open international waters to mining, The Metals Company sought U.S. permits. But other countries are raising legal concerns.Two months ago, President Trump took an extraordinary step toward issuing permits to mine vast tracts of the ocean floor in international waters where valuable minerals are abundant.It was a boon to The Metals Company, an ambitious start-up that had already spent more than half a billion dollars preparing to become the world\u2019s first commercial seabed miner. Within days of Trump\u2019s executive order, the company submitted its application to the federal government.As a result, some of the company\u2019s international partners are now questioning their relationships with The Metals Company. Trump\u2019s order conflicts with a longstanding treaty known as the Law of the Sea, potentially exposing them to legal risks.The issue with The Metals Company\u2019s seabed-mining application is that nearly every country in the world, but not the United States, has signed the Law of the Sea treaty. Its language is clear: Mining in areas outside a country\u2019s territorial waters before nations agree on how to handle the practice is not just a breach of international law, but it is also an affront to \u201cthe common heritage of mankind.\u201dIn May, a Japanese firm that The Metals Company has partnered with in the past to process minerals from seabed-mining test runs, said it was \u201ccarefully discussing the matter with T.M.C.,\u201d citing the importance of doing business with companies \u201cvia a route that has earned international credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32214,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32215,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32212\/revisions\/32215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}