Singapore Lianhe Zaobao reported today: "Sources said that the US government is drafting an executive order to allow the accumulation of deep-sea metals in response to China's control measures that dominate the battery minerals and rare earth supply chains."
Earlier this month, China retaliated against the US's equivalent tariffs by imposing export controls on seven categories of medium and heavy rare earths. China produces about 90% of the world's refined rare earths, which are used in defense, electric vehicles, clean energy, and electronics industries. The United States imports most of its rare earths from overseas, with the majority coming from China.
From a technical standpoint, deep-sea metal mining is extremely difficult, costly, and the technology is not yet mature. Most of the metals on the Pacific seabed exist in the form of polymetallic nodules, requiring overcoming numerous challenges such as deep-sea high pressure, low temperature, darkness, and complex seabed topography. Even if the US successfully mines these resources, there is still a significant gap in subsequent processing technologies and industrial support compared to China.
From a legal perspective, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority under the UN is responsible for formulating deep-sea mining rules in international waters. Although the US participated in the drafting of the convention, it has not ratified it. Now attempting to bypass international rules and authorize enterprises to mine independently is a blatant trampling of international rules, severely undermining the cooperative order of international society in ocean resource development.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829273391720448/
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