PARIS, April 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - France on Monday accused the United States
of violating international law after President Donald Trump signed an order
to fast-track deep-sea mining in the open ocean outside his country's
territorial waters.

Washington wants to spearhead mining for mineral-rich nodules in the deepest
ocean floor, sidestepping a global effort to regulate such potentially
damaging exploration.

France has led a diplomatic push to impose a global moratorium on deep-sea
mining until more is known about its potential environmental consequences.

The country's ambassador for the oceans, Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, said the
United States was "violating the principle of non-appropriation of the high
seas" by looking to issue mining permits in international waters.

"No one can claim the right to destroy the oceans, especially those over
which they have no territorial rights. This is the strict application of
international law," Poivre d'Arvor told journalists in an online briefing.

"The abyss is not for sale," he added.

The seafloor holds untapped stores of key minerals that are essential for
modern technology. But the ecology of that dark realm is still poorly
understood.

As commercial interest in the seabed has grown, global regulators have tried
to devise a level playing field and environmental protections for the nascent
deep-sea mining industry.

The United States never ratified the agreements that empower the
International Seabed Authority's jurisdiction over seabeds in international
waters, and is not a member of the UN-affiliated body.

Poivre d'Arvor said that France, which is hosting the UN Oceans Conference in
June, has forged a coalition of 32 countries opposed to deep-sea mining until
the long-term impacts are better understood.

Some 20 experts signed a scientific report last month calling for a global
moratorium on deep-sea mining for at least 10 to 15 years or until enough
information is available.

"It's urgent to wait, not to rush into it right away," Bruno David, a
prominent French scientist commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron to write
the report, told journalists on Monday.

The report warned that dredging the seafloor for minerals could spread giant
clouds of sediment for hundreds of square kilometres beyond the mining site
and risked heavy metals impacting the food chain.

"Science must guide our choices," added David, describing the actions of
Trump's administration as "delusional".

China -- which holds more exploration licences than any other country, but
has held off mining awaiting the ISA's rules -- last week said Washington's
decision harmed global interests and violated international norms.