The Trump administration’s 2025 order to mine seabed minerals beyond U.S. jurisdiction has sparked controversy. While America controls resources within its exclusive economic zones, the international seabed, managed by the Law of the Sea Convention, belongs to all humanity. Critics warn unilateral U.S. mining risks violating international law and undermining global ocean governance.

Americans have a reputation for being bad at world geography, and the current U.S. administration is no exception, particularly when it comes to correctly identifying what is – and is not – part of the United States of America.

President Donald Trump’s April 2025 executive order “unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals” provides an example. It purports to “unleash” seabed minerals both within and far outside US jurisdiction.

The minerals on the US seabed are America’s. The minerals on the international seabed are not “America’s.” The administration plans to authorize companies to mine in international areas, nonetheless.

I have studied the international agreements and customary rules governing the oceans since the Law of the Sea Convention entered into force in 1994. The Trump administration’s attempt to unilaterally exploit the seabed resources of the global commons will severely undermine part of the rules-based international order that the US built and of which it has been the main beneficiary.