Trump Bans Foreign Electrical Equipment from the U.S. Grid on National Security Grounds

On August 26, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency in the bulk power system and restricting the acquisition, import, and installation of equipment manufactured abroad, including transformers, inverters, and battery storage systems.

The order applies to transactions initiated after that date, though equipment will not be formally prohibited until the Department of Energy (DOE) evaluates specific suppliers and issues risk determinations, with formal rules due within 120 days, according to pv magazine Latam. The restrictions cover equipment designed, manufactured, or supplied by vendors linked to 24 countries subject to sanctions and arms embargoes under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); China is the primary commercial supplier affected across solar component, battery, and electrical equipment supply chains. The measure expands Executive Order 13920 from 2020, which already restricted large transformers of Chinese origin, and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) described it as an update and expansion, according to Utility Dive.

The scope covers substations, generation facilities, and control rooms of the bulk power system, including transmission lines of 69 kV or more; residential or commercial distributed generation connected only to local low-voltage lines is excluded. The list encompasses utility-scale inverters, battery storage systems, substation transformers, high-voltage circuit breakers, industrial control systems, generation turbines, and their associated software. Analysis by Norton Rose Fulbright anticipates that the DOE will define a whitelist of pre-qualified suppliers or a licensing framework, and that asset owners will need to isolate, monitor, or gradually phase out installed equipment. For clean energy developers, the measure adds another layer on top of existing restrictions on Foreign Entities of Concern (FEOC), domestic content requirements, and the Section 45X tax credit.

The DOE rule, due December 24, 2026, will define which suppliers and equipment are effectively prohibited in practice. For North America, the order adds a regulatory layer to grid equipment supply chains that cross the border, with implications for manufacturers and suppliers exporting to the United States from Mexico and other countries.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.