Explorer Seeks Trump’s Nod to Mine Metals on Pacific Seabed

A seabed mining company has asked the Trump administration for approval to harvest the ocean floor for critical metals in international waters controlled by a United Nations-affiliated organization

The Metals Company, or TMC, has “officially requested a pre-application consultation” with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and executives have also met with White House officials, the firm said Thursday in a statement.

A move by Trump’s White House to green light the company’s request for a mining license for the Pacific Ocean could upend an international treaty that governs deep-sea mining and other uses of the world’s oceans.

“This would ...