Trump Signs Emergency Order to Block Foreign-Made Backdoors From US Power Grid
Executive Order 14420 bars untrusted foreign equipment from America's high-voltage electricity network, citing hidden remote-access capabilities that could let hostile governments cut the lights.
Key points
- President Trump signed Executive Order 14420 on Wednesday, declaring a national emergency over foreign-supplied equipment in the US power grid.
- Any purchase, import, or installation of flagged foreign power equipment initiated after 26 August 2026 is prohibited.
- Covered hardware includes transformers, inverters, and industrial control systems running transmission lines rated at 69 kilovolts or higher.
- The order does not name any country, but its structure closely mirrors a 2020 rule that specifically targeted Chinese entities.
- The Department of Energy can now order grid operators to isolate or replace equipment already in service if it poses a security risk.
The United States power grid moves electricity from giant generating stations to cities through high-voltage transmission lines. Hidden inside some of that infrastructure, officials say, is equipment built abroad and shipped in with remote-access capabilities that a foreign government could switch on at will. Wednesday's executive order is Washington's attempt to close that door.
Trump signed Executive Order 14420, invoking a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that gives a president broad authority to restrict foreign trade when national security is at stake. The White House cited explosive growth in data centres, artificial intelligence facilities, and defence manufacturing as reasons why grid reliability has never mattered more. A deliberate outage or a quietly triggered remote shutdown could ripple through all of them at once.
What equipment does the order actually cover?
The rule targets the bulk power system, meaning the high-voltage backbone of the grid, not the local lines that run to your home. Transmission lines operating at 69 kilovolts or higher fall under the order. So do the devices that control them.
Specifically, the order covers:
- Transformers (which step electricity up or down to the right voltage for long-distance travel)
- Inverters (which convert electricity from solar or battery sources into a form the grid can use)
- Energy storage systems
- Industrial control systems, including remote terminal units (RTUs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), meaning the computerised devices that open and close switches and valves across the grid
- Any firmware (the built-in software baked into hardware at the factory) and remote-access tools attached to the above
| Category | Examples | Concern |
|---|---|---|
| High-voltage hardware | Transformers, inverters | Backdoors allowing remote shutdown |
| Control systems | RTUs, PLCs, safety systems | Unauthorised remote operation |
| Software layer | Firmware, remote-access tools | Malicious updates or silent takeover |
Who is actually being targeted here?
The order names no country directly. That said, its language and structure are nearly identical to a 2020 Trump-era bulk-power order that led the Department of Energy to formally ban equipment linked to Chinese entities. The Biden administration later revoked that specific ban following a review.
Chinese state-backed hackers have been caught inside US grid networks before, using active intrusions to sit quietly and gather intelligence. This order signals a different concern: that hostile nations may not need to hack their way in at all if they already manufactured the equipment and embedded access from the start.
What happens to equipment already installed?
Existing kit is not automatically ripped out. The Department of Energy gains new authority to assess hardware already running on the grid and can order operators to isolate, monitor, or replace specific components if officials conclude they pose a risk. The government can also publish a list of pre-approved vendors whose equipment is cleared for use, giving grid operators a straightforward path to compliance.
For ordinary electricity customers, no disruption is expected from the order itself. The practical effect will play out over years, as utilities plan new infrastructure purchases.
If you work for a utility, a defence contractor, or any organisation that depends on continuous power, now is a reasonable time to ask your procurement team whether any planned equipment orders fall inside the 26 August 2026 deadline and what your vendor's country of manufacture actually is. SecurityWeek first reported the order's full scope.
