(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at securing the nation’s electricity system from foreign adversaries, a move that could restrict certain overseas companies from exporting products to the U.S.
The order, which doesn’t name any specific countries or companies, blocks U.S. purchases of certain power-system equipment from entities deemed a risk to national security. It empowers the secretary of energy to identify those parties and establish criteria for restricting transactions with them. The order also establishes a new task force on federal energy infrastructure procurement.
“It is imperative the bulk-power system be secured against exploitation and attacks by foreign threats,” U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a statement. “This executive order will greatly diminish the ability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.”
Foreign-produced equipment subject to the restrictions include transformers, capacitors, and metering equipment used in power transmission. The order could result in more of those parts being manufactured in the U.S., according to a senior Energy Department official, who asked not be named, citing agency policy.
In recent years, members of Congress and the Trump administration have raised concerns about the power grid’s vulnerability to foreign interference. A report by the Director of National Intelligence last year warned that both China and Russia have the ability to launch cyber-attacks targeting both the electrical grid and natural gas pipelines.
“Moscow is mapping our critical infrastructure with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage,” the report said.
Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese producer of solar panels, energy-storage technology and telecommunications infrastructure, has been singled out as a particular threat to the American power grid.
A group of senators in December called on the administration to protect the power system, arguing that inverters produced by the company could put the grid at risk of foreign surveillance.
Trump has already effectively blocked Huawei and certain other Chinese firms from the U.S. telecommunications market.
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