Donald Trump declares a state of emergency on the electricity network, a measure which targets China without naming it
It is a measure that targets China without saying it. Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency on the American electricity grid on Wednesday August 26. By this decree, which does not cite any country, Washington prohibits the purchase and installation of network equipment from suppliers from states under embargo or American sanctions on the arms trade. However, no country on this list exports this type of equipment to the United States, with the exception of China.
“The goal is to protect the American grid and electrical systems”the White House informed Agence France-Presse, without specifying which countries would be designated. The application rules are expected within one hundred and twenty days.
The process is not new. A comparable executive order from President Trump in May 2020 did not name any countries. The implementing decree, seven months later, explicitly targeted equipment from China.
Malicious material
This includes transformers, inverters, battery storage systems and industrial controllers, as well as associated software and remote access. The Secretary of Energy may impose conditions on equipment already installed until it is removed.
The executive order cites the growth of data centers, artificial intelligence and defense production, which has increased America’s electricity needs.
The American telecommunications regulator, the FCC, restricted the import of foreign inverters at the end of July, after a comparable decision by the European Commission in May.
An analysis by the Department of Energy published in January, however, concluded, after inspection of 30 Chinese inverters, that there was no definitive proof of hidden malicious material.
