Trump's deep-sea mining order violates global norms: France

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.