Donald Trump signs executive orders allowing mining on ocean floor, boosting federal service

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday, including one that seeks to jumpstart large-scale deep-sea mining operations on the ocean floor, which has never been done before. 

The deep-sea mining order comes as the Trump administration expects to find valuable minerals on the ocean floor, such as manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper, which can be used for energy purposes and in weapons, per The Hill.

The order directs the Commerce secretary to expedite permits for commercial undersea exploration and mining.

The other executive order is intended to improve probationary periods for government employees, in order to boost the quality of the federal workforce.

"The American people deserve a Federal workforce that is high-quality, efficient, dedicated to the public interest, and no larger than necessary," the order states. "The Government Accountability Office has documented, however, that agencies have not been using probationary and trial periods as effectively as they could to remove appointees whose continued employment is not in the public interest."

The executive orders come the same day Trump signed a memorandum that directed the attorney general to crack down on foreign straw donors in U.S. elections, including taking action on concerns raised by Congress about the liberal online fundraising platform ActBlue, which has admitted it did not follow common anti-fraud protections for much of the 2024 presidential election.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.