Page 10 - The Indian EYE 091925

OPINION SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 | The Indian Eye 10

Trump’s Executive Order on

Deep Seabed Mining:

A Critical Assessment

BIPANDEEP SHARMA

new Executive Order (EO)
signed by US President Don-
A ald J. Trump on 24 April 2025
calls for enabling US access to vast
reserves of mineral resources on the
deep seabed space. Trump’s EO em-
phasises that concerned US State de-
partments, acting in accordance with
the United States’ domestic Deep
Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act
(DSHMRA), can grant US compa-
nies the required permission to un-
dertake deep seabed exploration and
exploitation activities in US maritime
jurisdictions, as well as in ABNJ. The
EO further emphasises that the US
seeks reliable supplies of critical min-
erals that currently remain in control
of its adversaries, which can pose sig-
nificant challenges to US economic
and national security interests. On
the one hand, Trump’s EO seeks to
strengthen further the US’s existing
positions about the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), while on the other, it
challenges established international Trump’s EO calls for strengthening US capabilities in exploration, characterisation, collection and processing of seabed minerals and seeks
frameworks of deep seabed explora-
tion and exploitation. investments in deep-sea science (File photo)
The US, to date, remains a
non-party to UNCLOS, but has bed mining activities in the ABNJ, any new exploration licenses apart the US remains a non-ratifying party
signed the 1994 agreement. Trump’s ‘until an international regime was in from approving extension requests. to UNCLOS, US citizens issued li-
EO calls for strengthening US capa- place’, i.e., the UNCLOS. This sudden move by the Trump ad- censes or permits by NOAA as per
bilities in exploration, characterisa- Without any existing global ministration, therefore, raises serious its DSHMRA would have no legal re-
tion, collection and processing of sea- mechanism, DSHMRA established concerns. course under UNCLOS mechanisms
bed minerals and seeks investments a framework for authorising US citi- Legal scholars argue that since to protect their claim to explore and/
in deep-sea science. Trump’s EO calls zens and corporations to explore and the US has not ratified UNCLOS and or recover seabed minerals in the
upon the US Secretary of Commerce recover minerals from the seabed in is not bound by treaty law, it has ev- ‘Area’. Further, according to the ISA,
to “expedite the process for reviewing ABNJ. Acting through this, the Unit- ery right to proceed with deep-seabed parties to UNCLOS have “a duty not
and issuing seabed mineral explora- ed States’ National Oceanic and At- mining, even in international waters, to recognise any claim, acquisition, or
tion licenses and commercial recovery mospheric Administration (NOAA) as per its domestic legislation. The exercise of rights over minerals recov-
permits in areas beyond national juris- in 1984 issued four exploration licens- existence of DSHMRA is also a po- ered from the ‘Area’ by any State or by
diction under the Deep Seabed Hard es to a US-led consortium for four tential reason why the US has not be- any natural or juridical person, unless
Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA) sites in areas beyond US jurisdiction. come a party to UNCLOS and ISA. conducted in accordance with Part XI
(30 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), consistent These four licenses were issued for 10 However, others within the US of UNCLOS”.
with applicable law”. years, before UNCLOS entered into argue that Part XI on seabed mining Secondly, the US decision to
The US Congress passed the force and 12 years before the ISA “could still be binding as custom- grant access to American companies
DSHMRA in 1980 as an ‘interim became operational. Since 1984 and ary international law for the United in the ‘Area’ raises the critical ques-
measure’ which allowed US citizens the post-UNCLOS provisions coming States” despite the US’s non-ratifica- tion of ‘benefit sharing’. However,
and companies to proceed with sea- into force, the NOAA has not issued tion of UNCLOS. They argue that if Continued on next page... >>

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