Wonders of the deep sea set to be ripped apart by Trump's hunger for rare minerals

As the US considers strip mining the ocean floor far beyond its waters, fears are growing that its bid to outdo China will jeopardise life beneath the waves, writes Jeevan Vasagar

- Jeevan Vasagar

Four thousand metres below the surface of the Pacific, without sunlight and at near-freezing temperatures, there is an abundance of alien-looking life, from the bright pink sea cucumber that scientists nickname the "Barbie pig" to the brittle star, which has long, whip-like limbs it uses to scuttle across the seafloor.

That abundance is under threat from a plan being considered by the Trump administration to open up this part of the ocean - far beyond US territorial waters to mining for nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese.

This week the US government will consider mining applications from the Metals Company, a business based in Canada and listed in the US, which aims to start extracting minerals from the seabed next year.

The move to increase US access to the minerals bypasses international law and has drawn protest from environmental activists and China. Deep-sea riches include metals critical for the green transition, such as nickel and cobalt for batteries and copper for electrification.

At first sight, securing these resources seems a curious priority for a US administration that has thrown its weight behind oil and gas extraction and strangled offshore wind. However, geopolitical rivalry has given impetus to the move to dig for treasure in the abyss. Trump signed an executive order pushing for mining, describing it as a "core national security and economic interest".

Louisa Casson, deep-sea mining campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "There is definitely a concern among the Maga crowd that the US is behind China in the dominance of critical mineral supply chains."

China has a powerful grip on the global supply and processing of many metals essential for the green transition. One Chinese company, CMOC, produces about a third of the world's cobalt supply. Indonesia, where rainforest has been cleared for mining, is the world's biggest supplier of nickel. But Chinese business controls the supply chain.