Commentary
In an April 2025 executive order, President Trump affirmed that offshore critical minerals are key to creating supply chains that do not depend on adversaries like the People’s Republic of China. While US leadership on deep-sea mining directly serves the nation’s resource needs, it also brings mutually-beneficial partnerships with other nations. Such relationships would not only reduce China’s dominance over the minerals industry, but could also be leveraged to combat China’s expanding foothold in the Indo-Pacific.