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A bulk-power emergency is declared again, five years on

26 August 2026 · written 6 September 2026

President Trump signed Executive Order 14421, “Declaring a National Emergency To Secure the United States Bulk-Power System,” on 26 August 2026; it was published at 91 FR 55995 on 31 August.1 The order finds “that the situation with respect to the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat” and declares a national emergency as to it, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act and 3 U.S.C. § 301.1 Section 2(a) prohibits “any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of any foreign-produced bulk-power system electric equipment” where the Secretary of Energy determines both a link to a “Covered Foreign Entity” and one of three risks.1 This is the second such emergency: Executive Order 13920 of 1 May 2020 declared the first, and Executive Order 13990 of 20 January 2021 suspended it for 90 days.23

  1. The prohibition uses the IEEPA clause the Supreme Court read narrowly in February, in the way that reading left open. Section 1702(a)(1)(B) lets the President “regulate … importation … of … any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest,” and in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump the Court held 6-3 that the verb does not authorise tariffs (see Supreme Court holds IEEPA does not authorise tariffs).45 Section 2(a) does not tax the equipment; it bars the transaction outright, on a finding rather than at a rate.1

  2. Equipment already in the ground is reachable, but through a different subsection. Section 2(a) covers only transactions “initiated after the date of this order”; section 2(b) lets the Secretary impose conditions on equipment “acquired or installed before the date of this order,” including “requirements to identify, isolate, monitor, secure, disconnect, replace, or remove.”1 Before directing isolation, disconnection, replacement or removal the Secretary “shall consider effects on reliability and safety, the availability of secure replacements, and continuity of essential service, and may establish phased compliance.”1

  3. Which countries are covered is left to be settled later, and partly by the Secretary of Energy. A “Covered Foreign Entity” is one subject to a United States arms embargo or sanctions regime under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations at 22 C.F.R. § 126.1, or one the Secretary “has determined is engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the national security or foreign policy of the United States”; rules under section 3(b) may “determine that particular countries or persons are a Covered Foreign Entity exclusively for the purposes of this order.”16 Those rules are due within 120 days of 26 August, that is by 24 December 2026.1 Executive Order 13920 had instead defined a “foreign adversary” and left the term to stand on its own terms.2

  4. The order restarts an annual clock the last one ran out. Under 50 U.S.C. § 1622(d) a national emergency “shall terminate on the anniversary of the declaration of that emergency if, within the ninety-day period prior to each anniversary date, the President does not publish in the Federal Register and transmit to the Congress a notice stating that such emergency is to continue in effect.”7 No such notice was published for the 2020 emergency, which therefore terminated on 1 May 2021; the eighteen continuation notices published between 1 February and 30 June 2021 include the information and communications technology supply-chain emergency of Executive Order 13873 and do not include the bulk-power system.8 For Executive Order 14421 the first anniversary falls on 26 August 2027 and the window opens on 28 May 2027.7 Section 6 separately directs reports to Congress under NEA section 401 and IEEPA section 204(c).1910

Footnotes

  1. Executive Order 14421 of 26 August 2026, “Declaring a National Emergency To Secure the United States Bulk-Power System,” 91 FR 55995–55999 (published 31 August 2026), FR Doc. 2026-17843. § 1 (findings and declaration; “During my first term, I found that the bulk-power system could be a target,” which does not name Executive Order 13920); § 2(a) (prohibited transactions; the Secretary of Energy determining, “in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and in consultation with the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence,” a Covered Foreign Entity link and one of the three risks at (ii)(A)–(C)); § 2(b) (pre-existing equipment); § 2(c) (mitigation measures as a precondition to approval); § 2(e) (pre-qualified equipment and vendor list); § 2(f) (evasion); § 3(a) (authorities delegated to the Secretary, including “ordering the replacement of equipment posing an unacceptable risk”); § 3(b) (rules within 120 days); § 3(c) (identification and recommendations to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, “as soon as practicable”); § 4(a) (recommended Federal Acquisition Regulation revisions within 180 days, that is by 22 February 2027) and § 4(b) (the FAR Council to “consider proposing” amendments within 90 days of receiving them); § 5(a) (the “bulk-power system,” including transmission lines rated at 69,000 volts or more and excluding local distribution); § 5(b) (the equipment list, from substation transformers and grid-connected inverters to protective relaying and industrial control systems); § 5(e) (“Covered Foreign Entity”); § 6 (reports to Congress); § 7(c) (no enforceable right or benefit). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/31/2026-17843/declaring-a-national-emergency-to-secure-the-united-states-bulk-power-system ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Executive Order 13920 of 1 May 2020, “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System,” 85 FR 26595 (published 4 May 2020), FR Doc. 2020-09695. It invoked the same three authorities, declared “a national emergency with respect to the threat to the United States bulk-power system,” and defined “foreign adversary” at § 4(d) as “any foreign government or foreign non-government person engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or its allies or the security and safety of United States persons.” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/05/04/2020-09695/securing-the-united-states-bulk-power-system ↩ ↩2

  3. Executive Order 13990 of 20 January 2021, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis,” 86 FR 7037 (published 25 January 2021). § 7(c): “Executive Order 13920 of May 1, 2020 (Securing the United States Bulk-Power System), is hereby suspended for 90 days. The Secretary of Energy and the Director of OMB shall jointly consider whether to recommend that a replacement order be issued.” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01765/protecting-public-health-and-the-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis ↩

  4. International Emergency Economic Powers Act § 203, 50 U.S.C. § 1702(a)(1)(B), authorising the President to “investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest.” The govinfo link service, this corpus’s usual route to the Office of Law Revision Counsel text, returned HTTP 400 for 50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1622 when checked on 6 September 2026, so the four Title 50 sections in this post were first read at Cornell’s Legal Information Institute; section 1702 was re-verified against govinfo’s U.S. Code link service on 21 September 2026. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title50-section1702&edition=prelim ↩

  5. Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287, 607 U.S. 229 (2026) (Roberts, C.J.), decided 20 February 2026, consolidated with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., No. 25-250; holding 6-3 that § 1702(a)(1)(B)‘s authority to “regulate … importation” does not authorise the imposition of tariffs, Thomas, J., dissenting, joined by Alito and Kavanaugh, JJ. The holding addresses the tariff use of the clause and not its use to prohibit transactions. Caption, docket, reporter cite and opinion URL taken from the Court’s OT2025 slip-opinion table, which lists the decision of 2/20/26 as No. 24-1287, Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. 229. See Supreme Court holds IEEPA does not authorise tariffs. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1287_4gcj.pdf ↩

  6. International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. § 126.1, listing the countries subject to United States arms embargoes and policies of denial. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-M/part-126/section-126.1 ↩

  7. National Emergencies Act § 202(d), 50 U.S.C. § 1622(d): “Any national emergency declared by the President in accordance with this subchapter, and not otherwise previously terminated, shall terminate on the anniversary of the declaration of that emergency if, within the ninety-day period prior to each anniversary date, the President does not publish in the Federal Register and transmit to the Congress a notice stating that such emergency is to continue in effect after such anniversary.” https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title50-section1622&edition=prelim ↩ ↩2

  8. Federal Register presidential-document notices published between 1 February and 30 June 2021, eighteen in all: Libya; COVID-19; Cuba; Ukraine; Venezuela; Zimbabwe; Iran; significant malicious cyber-enabled activities; South Sudan; Somalia; Syria; the Central African Republic; the stabilization of Iraq; securing the information and communications technology and services supply chain (Executive Order 13873, continued 13 May 2021); Yemen; the Western Balkans; certain members of the Government of Belarus; and North Korea. None concerns the bulk-power system. A full-text search of Federal Register presidential documents for “bulk-power system” returns six documents across all years, none of them a continuation notice. The search covers the Federal Register, which is where 50 U.S.C. § 1622(d) requires the notice to appear. https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/notices ↩

  9. National Emergencies Act § 401, 50 U.S.C. § 1641, requiring the President to transmit to Congress reports on the exercise of emergency authorities, including expenditures, at six-month intervals. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title50-section1641&edition=prelim ↩

  10. International Emergency Economic Powers Act § 204(c), 50 U.S.C. § 1703(c), requiring the President to report to Congress at least every six months on the actions taken and any changes made during the preceding six-month period. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title50-section1703&edition=prelim ↩

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