Leaders warn race for minerals could turn seabed into 'wild west'

Nice, France (AFP) June 9, 2025

World leaders on Monday called for strict rules to govern deep-sea mining and warned against racing to exploit the ocean floor in a thinly veiled rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Growing anxiety over Trump's unilateral push to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters shot to the surface at the opening of the UN Ocean Conference in southern France. "I think it's madness to l