Trump accelerates mining on the high seas and challenges international standards to extract minerals
Although provided, the executive order of Trump on The “liberation” of the Minerals of the United States and critical resources On the high seas it means that the country is about to extend The world struggle for critical minerals Like lithium and rare on the high seas, while most countries are still negotiating rules on how to ensure that mining is made safely and without potentially enormous environmental destruction.
“The United States face unprecedented economic and national security challenges when guarantee a reliable supply of critical mineralsRegardless of the control of foreign opponents “, says the preamble of the 139th executive order of the president since he took the position in January. Later, China is specifically mentioned.
The order, published on Thursday, requires the government’s officials to do so Evaluate “the interest and opportunities of the private sector for the exploration of the mineral resources of surveillance of the sea, mining and environmental fund on the external continental platform of the United States; in areas outside the national jurisdiction; and in the areas within the national jurisdictions of some other nations that express interest Associate US companies In the development of sea bed minerals. ”
The scale of Trump’s ambition goes far beyond that of Norway, which last year announced its plans, now presented after a violent reaction from the environmentalists, to open Stripes of its arctic territorial waters the exploration of mining companies.
The day the president of the United States signed the executive order, the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who said that the last minute parliamentary blockade of his government’s mining ambitions in the seabed was nothing more than a postponement, He was in Washington to keep conversations Bilateral On Ukraine and trade.
Quick for exploration
Trump instructed United States Trade Secretary, Howard Lutnick, so that “accelerates the revision process e Mining exploration license of marine funds and commercial recovery permits in areas outside the national jurisdiction by virtue of the law of concrete resources of maritime funds “.
As reported by “Euronews” at the beginning of this week, this would mean that the United States I would use national legislation little known since the 80s To avoid the conversations in progress within the Authority for the United Nations (AIFM) marine funds of the United Nations, which has agreed on a moratorium pending the negotiations in progress on the mining code that establish the safety and environmental protection rules.
“This is a clear case to put the greed of mining companies in a common sense,” said Katie Matthews, a senior scientist and vice -president of the Ocean world campaign group. “Any attempt to accelerate the extraction of deep water without adequate guarantees will accelerate only the destruction of our oceans“.
The Ocean Conservancy Group, based in Washington, This statement echoedAnd his vice -president Jeff Watters said that the areas of the American sea fund subjected to extraction tests 50 years ago have not yet completely resumed. In addition, the measure of the Trump administration could trigger a destructive career to ensure that the minerals have been nicknamed the new oil. “Pursuing unilaterally Mining in international waters By challenging the rest of the world, the administration is opening a door to other countries to do the same, “he said.
The executive order occurs after the Secretary General of the IS, Leticia Carvalho, warned last month that “any unilateral action would constitute a violation of international law”. However, The United States are not among the 169 countries, in addition to the EU, who ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
THE Washington measurement There was the same day when the European Commission presented a proposal to incorporate EU legislation The most recent agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions (BBNJ), also known as Treaty of High Sea, which aims to establish enormous protected marine areas (AMP) on the high seas online with the biodiversity of the Kunming-Montreal agreement of 2022.
