This month, the U.S. administration went further and made a surprising and ambitious move to strengthen deep-sea mining. To that end, they just signed an executive order to expedite the extraction of critical minerals from the seabed.

The U.N.-affiliated body that governs the seabed in international waters came out swinging — by diplo-speak standards — against White House efforts to spur deep-sea mineral mining. Why it matters: The International Seabed Authority's statement circulated Saturday is a fresh sign of geopolitical and legal conflict that could greet new commercial efforts outside its purview.