Washington’s decision to circumvent ongoing international talks and unilaterally open up international waters to US-backed mining companies has stoked fears of an environmentally ruinous 21st-century gold rush, and the EU is among many voices now questioning the legality of the move.
Trump’s executive order came just weeks after the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed its 30th session in Jamaica without finalising a rule book on the safe and sustainable exploitation of mineral resources, thereby prolonging a global moratorium on seabed mining.
