President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 26, 2026, declaring a national emergency over the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment. The order, published in the Federal Register on Aug. 31, 2026, says the threat has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States and endangers national security, foreign policy, and the economy.
The order says the bulk-power system provides electricity that supports national defense, vital emergency services, critical infrastructure, and the economy. It defines that system as facilities and control systems needed to operate an interconnected electric transmission network, and electric energy from generation facilities needed to maintain reliability. The definition includes transmission lines rated at 69,000 volts or more and does not include facilities used in local distribution of electric energy.
The order prohibits any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of foreign-produced bulk-power system electric equipment by a person, or involving property, subject to U.S. jurisdiction, when stated conditions are met. The transaction must involve property in which a foreign country or a national of that country has an interest, including through a contract to provide the equipment, and it must have been initiated after the date of the order. The Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and in consultation with other officials, must also determine that the transaction meets the order’s risk tests.
Those tests cover equipment, or associated critical components, software, firmware, digital services, maintenance services, or remote-access capability, designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a Covered Foreign Entity. The Secretary must find an undue risk of sabotage, subversion, unauthorized access, malicious remote action, or supply disruption; an undue risk of catastrophic effects on critical infrastructure or the economy; or an otherwise unacceptable risk to national security or the security and safety of United States persons.
A Covered Foreign Entity is a country, or a person owned by, controlled by, or subject to the direction of a foreign government, that is subject to a U.S. arms embargo or sanctions regime, or that the Secretary has determined is engaged in conduct detrimental to U.S. national security or foreign policy. That determination is made in consultation with the Secretary of War, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Foreign-produced means an article not manufactured, produced, or assembled in the United States.
The order says limited restrictions on foreign-produced equipment can allow some foreign entities to create and exploit vulnerabilities, including digital backdoors that could permit remote access. It also says reliance on foreign sources can create a supply-chain vulnerability if international trade or other causes disrupt supply. The order says the threat exists both in individual transactions and when transactions are considered as a class.
The Secretary may place conditions on continued use, operation, maintenance, servicing, or updating of foreign manufactured or operated equipment acquired or installed before the date of the order. Conditions can require identifying, isolating, monitoring, securing, disconnecting, replacing, or removing equipment. Before directing isolation, disconnection, replacement, or removal, the Secretary shall consider reliability, safety, the availability of secure replacements, and continuity of essential service, and may set phased compliance.
The Secretary may negotiate measures to mitigate concerns, and those measures may be required before a transaction or class of transactions is approved. The Secretary may also recognize particular equipment and vendors as pre-qualified and exempt from the main prohibition, and may publish a list. The order says that step does not limit authority to prohibit or regulate a transaction involving qualified equipment or suppliers.
Transactions that evade or avoid, or attempt to violate, a prohibition or requirement are prohibited, as is a conspiracy formed to violate one. The prohibitions apply except as statutes, or regulations, orders, directives, or licenses issued under the order, provide. They apply notwithstanding a contract entered into, or a license or permit granted, before the date of the order.
The order authorizes the Secretary to direct how pending and future prohibited transactions stop, to order replacement of equipment posing an unacceptable risk to national security, and to adopt rules. The head of each agency shall take appropriate measures within that agency’s authority. Within 120 days of the date of the order, the Secretary, in consultation with named officials, shall publish implementing rules or regulations as needed.
As soon as practicable, the Secretary shall identify covered equipment that poses the risks described in the order. The Secretary shall also submit recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, on ways to identify, inventory, isolate, monitor, or replace such items.
Within 180 days, the Secretary, consulting the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, shall recommend revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation so national security risks are considered in federal procurement of energy infrastructure and acquisition of United States-manufactured energy infrastructure is prioritized. Within 90 days of receiving those recommendations, the council shall consider proposing amendments for notice and public comment.
The Secretary is directed to submit recurring and final reports to Congress on the national emergency. The order says it shall be carried out consistent with applicable law and subject to available appropriations, and that it does not create an enforceable right against the United States.