California-based company Impossible Metals asked the Trump administration earlier this month to auction off mining leases for areas off the coast of American Samoa, which would be within US-controlled waters. Trump’s executive order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the process for leasing areas for mining within US waters.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at boosting the deep-sea mining industry, marking his latest attempt to boost U.S. access to nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that seeks to jumpstart the mining of both U.S. and international waters as part of a push to offset China's sweeping control of the critical minerals industry.