On August 26, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order 14420, “Declaring a National Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System” (“EO 14420“), which aims to prevent certain foreign actors from creating or exploiting vulnerabilities in foreign-produced equipment used in the US bulk-power system. EO 14420 builds on and significantly expands Executive Order 13920, “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System” (“EO 13920“), which the Trump administration issued in 2020 and formed the basis of an existing prohibition order issued by the US Department of Energy (“DOE“). Our prior blog posts on EO 13920 and the DOE prohibition order are available here and here.
The White House also issued a fact sheet related to the issuance of EO 14420: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares a National Emergency to Secure America’s Bulk-Power System (“Fact Sheet“). The Fact Sheet emphasizes that EO 14420 reaches associated critical software and digital capabilities that could create cybersecurity or operational risks; it does not apply to facilities used for the local distribution of electric energy.
Statutory Authorities
President Trump issued EO 14420 pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.) (“IEEPA“), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) (“NEA“), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code. IEEPA grants the president the authority to take certain steps to restrict transactions upon the declaration of an “unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.” 50 U.S.C. § 1701. Under the NEA, the president must declare a national emergency and explicitly invoke IEEPA to exercise these powers. 50 U.S.C. §§ 1621, 1631. Here, President Trump declared a national emergency with respect to the threat posed to the US bulk-power system by foreign-produced equipment.
Prohibited Transactions
EO 14420 prohibits any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of foreign-produced bulk-power system electric equipment by any person subject to US jurisdiction, where a foreign country or national has an interest and where the Secretary of Energy determines that:
- The “bulk-power system electric equipment”[1]—or any critical component, software, firmware, digital service, maintenance service, or remote-access capability associated with such equipment—is designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a “Covered Foreign Entity”[2]; and
- The transaction poses (i) an undue risk of sabotage, subversion, unauthorized access, malicious remote action, or supply disruption to the US “bulk-power system”[3]; (ii) an undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resilience of US critical infrastructure or the US economy; or (iii) otherwise poses an unacceptable risk to US national security or the safety of US persons.
Notably, EO 14420 also reaches equipment installed before the issuance of the order. The Secretary of Energy may impose conditions on the continued use, operation, maintenance, or updating of such legacy equipment, including requirements to identify, isolate, monitor, secure, disconnect, replace, or remove such equipment.
Pre-Qualification and Mitigation
EO 14420 also authorizes the Secretary of Energy to develop pre-qualification and mitigation mechanisms in connection with the prohibition. First, the Secretary of Energy may establish criteria for pre-qualifying certain equipment and vendors as exempt from the above prohibition related to bulk-power system transactions. Vendors and equipment providers may consider proactive engagement with DOE regarding eligibility for pre-qualification. Second, the Secretary of Energy may design or negotiate mitigation measures as a precondition to approving otherwise prohibited transactions. The availability and scope of these mechanisms will depend on forthcoming DOE rules and implementation.
Implementing Rules and Regulations
While EO 14420 is effective upon issuance, its core prohibitions are not self-executing and apply to a given transaction only after the Secretary of Energy makes the affirmative determination required by the order. EO 14420 directs the Secretary of Energy to take two key implementing steps:
- Within 120 days – Publish implementing rules or regulations, which may designate Covered Foreign Entities, identify equipment or countries warranting particular scrutiny, and establish licensing procedures.
- Within 180 days – Recommend revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to prioritize US-manufactured energy infrastructure in federal procurement.
We will continue to monitor and update on any further developments related to the implementation of EO 14420.
[1] The term “bulk-power system electric equipment” means items used in bulk-power system substations, control rooms, or power generating stations, including reactors; capacitors; substation transformers; utility-scale and other grid-connected inverters; battery energy storage systems; and uninterruptible power supply systems supporting critical infrastructure, current coupling capacitors, large generators, small generators, backup generators, substation voltage regulators, shunt capacitor equipment, automatic circuit reclosers, instrument transformers, coupling capacity voltage transformers, protective relaying, metering equipment, high voltage circuit breakers, generation turbines, industrial control systems (including remote terminal units, programmable logic controllers, and intelligent electronic devices), distributed control systems, and safety instrumented systems. This may also include associated software and firmware, remote access capabilities, lifecycle maintenance and update mechanisms, and other supply chain dependencies that could present an unacceptable risk to the bulk-power system.
[2] The term “Covered Foreign Entity” means a country, or any person owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign government that is subject to a US arms embargo or sanctions regime under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. § 126.1), or that the Secretary of Energy determines is engaged in conduct detrimental to US national security or foreign policy.
[3] The term “bulk-power system” means a system that: (i) facilities and control systems necessary for operating an interconnected electric energy transmission network (or any portion thereof); and (ii) electric energy from generation facilities needed to maintain electric system reliability. This definition includes transmission lines rated at 69,000 volts (69 kV) or more, but does not include facilities used in the local distribution of electric energy.
