Trump is snatching the deep sea's riches
The competition for deep-sea mineral resources is intensifying, particularly between the US and China. An estimated $20 trillion worth of minerals lies at the ocean's depths, prompting concerns over exploitation and international governance. The UN's 1982 treaty aimed to regulate deep-sea mining, but the US opted out, leading to ongoing disputes over these valuable resources.
- ▪The US and China are competing for deep-sea mineral resources.
- ▪An estimated $20 trillion of minerals lies at the bottom of the world's oceans.
- ▪The UN established a treaty in 1982 to govern deep-sea mining, which the US did not sign.
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Trump is snatching the deep sea's riches Britain must head for the frontier The US and China are competing for mineral resources. (JG Fox/Getty) The US and China are competing for mineral resources. (JG Fox/Getty) Chagos IslandsClarion-Clipperton ZoneCritical mineralsdeep-sea miningTrade war Tom Ough May 19 2026 - 12:02am 9 mins Like the howling ice shelves of Antarctica, or the searing depths of the Earth’s crust, the deep-sea floor is both of our world and alien. The abyssal plain is a Lovecraftian land in which strange creatures, some of them eerily aglow, live and die beneath the pitch-black weight of several miles of ocean. It is no place for our fragile species.
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