California-based Impossible Metals, a deep-sea mining company, announced on Tuesday it has submitted a request to start the leasing process for exploration and potential mining of critical minerals off the coast of American Samoa, according to a press release.
The regulatory maneuvering comes after MP Materials stock soared more than 20% Monday amid reports that President Donald Trump will soon announce an executive order allowing the U.S. to stockpile critical rare earth minerals and metals mined from the Pacific Ocean floor.
The Financial Times reported Saturday that Trump's executive order will mean the U.S. government can build a "strategic reserve" for critical minerals necessary for EV motors and other advanced technologies.
Trump wants to "create large quantities ready and available on U.S. territory to be used in the future" in case of a conflict with China that might constrain imports of metals and rare earths, the FT reported.
China is the world's biggest supplier of rare earth minerals, which comprises 17 elements in the periodic table. It is responsible for nearly 70% of the world's production of rare earths, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As part of China's retaliation against Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, Chinese producers will need to obtain permission to export heavy rare earth materials.
Trump already invoked emergency powers to boost the ability of the U.S. to produce critical minerals to reduce reliance on imports from China and elsewhere. Now, the U.S. president appears set to push for deep-sea mining. The polymetallic nodules formed on the seafloor are said to contain rich amounts of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese. These metals are widely used in batteries and other tech applications.
At least one company is already getting ready to take advantage of Trump's order. Impossible Metals claims to be the first company to request a lease of critical minerals under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which is regulated by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry on Monday said that under international law, the seabed and its resources "are the common heritage of mankind."
"Exploration and exploitation of mineral resources in the international seabed area must be conducted in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and within the framework of the International Seabed Authority," the ministry said, in response to reports of Trump's imminent executive order.
MP Materials Stock And Deep-Sea Mining
MP Materials, the U.S. producer of rare earth minerals, advanced 4% at the opening bell before edging a fraction lower during Tuesday's stock market action. The stock soared 21.7% to 27.59 on Monday, moving back above the 50-day line.
Last week, the stock declined 1.7%. Before Monday's advance, MP shares were down 7% in April. However, the stock entered the week up 45% in 2025.
MP stock, is volatile, with a 21-day average true range of 7.39 percentage points.
Norway in December paused plans to open up its seabed for commercial-scale deep-sea mining amid environmentalist pushback claiming that deep-sea mining could be catastrophic for marine life. Norway's plan was also opposed by 32 countries including France, Canada, Brazil and Germany.
The first licenses for deep-sea mining in the Greenland Sea and the Norwegian Sea are now due to be awarded in 2026.
Rare Earth Metals: MP, Trump And China
The expected critical minerals executive order comes as the China-U.S. trade war continues. Trump over the weekend largely exempted China-manufactured tech products from most tariffs, temporarily.
Trump on Sunday posted to Truth Social that "NOBODY is getting 'off the hook'" and declared that "we will not be held hostage by other Countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China." The U.S. president stressed that the 20% China tariff related to fentanyl remains on electronics. He later said semiconductor tariffs will come over the next week, with "flexibility" on some companies.
Meanwhile, in late February, MP Materials topped fourth-quarter earnings estimates and reported it's on track to manufacture automotive-grade magnets at scale for General Motors by the end of 2025.
That will cap off MP Materials' multistage expansion plan it eyed when it held an initial public offering in 2020.
MP, short for its Mountain Pass, Calif., mining complex, has been advancing a domestic supply chain for rare earths in recent years. The outfit previously shipped all its unseparated product to China for processing.
Over the past few years, MP has been building a rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, with support from General Motors. GM is MP'ss foundational customer. In January, MP announced it began commercial production of NdPr metal, calling it a "pivotal milestone in restoring the U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain."
MP has already started trial production of automotive-grade, sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets at the facility and will manufacture at scale late this year. Rare earth magnets are used in many electric motors and can also be used applied to robotics, drones, eVTOL aircraft, defense tech and other emerging markets.
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