China has imposed export controls on seven categories of medium- to heavy rare earth-related items, triggering panic in the US related industry. According to the Financial Times, the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to hoard metals found on the Pacific seabed, increase the mining of seafloor metal nodules, and store them in the US to deal with China's restrictions on rare metal exports. In fact, the United States has largely been absent from international negotiations on seabed mining, and it has yet to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China has imposed export controls on seven categories of medium- to heavy rare earth-related items, triggering panic in the US related industry. According to the Financial Times, the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to hoard metals found on the Pacific seabed, increase the mining of seafloor metal nodules, and store them in the US to deal with China's restrictions on rare metal exports. In fact, the United States has largely been absent from international negotiations on seabed mining, and it has yet to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.