By Alexandra Alper and Sarah McFarlane
WASHINGTON/LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is drafting a ban on imports of foreign inverters, which connect solar projects and batteries to the grid, over concerns China could use them to disrupt power supplies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.
The rule being drafted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission would apply to new foreign models of inverters and could be published as early as this year, according to the sources,
who asked not to be named because the matter was not public.
The Trump administration was spurred to revive the effort in part by a decision by the European Commission in May to ban Chinese-made inverters from publicly funded energy projects, the five sources said, though they cautioned the U.S. proposal could still be modified or shelved altogether.
The FCC and the White House declined to comment on the draft measure. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it "firmly opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and its unjustified suppression of Chinese companies," adding that the U.S. should provide "a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment" for Chinese businesses.
The effort, not previously reported, is the latest example of Washington's renewed and more cautious approach to tackling technology threats posed by China, following a pause last year as President Donald Trump pursued a detente with Beijing.
Faced with Beijing's aggressive use of export controls on rare earth minerals last year, the Trump administration took a much more dovish stance on China than during the president's first term.
China is the world’s largest maker of inverters, led by Sungrow Power Supply and Huawei, and has been growing its share in the Western inverter market by driving down prices.
Last year, Reuters reported that rogue communication devices not listed in product documents had been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by U.S. experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues.
"Europe and America are waking up to the risk of losing sovereign control over their power systems through inverters," said Uri Sadot, CEO of energy security firm SolarDefend.
Huawei has already been heavily sanctioned by the U.S. in other industries due to national security concerns and allegations of intellectual property theft.
Heather Conley, a Europe expert at conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said the measures could signal more U.S.-European alignment on China, after the Group of Seven leaders agreed this month to work together to cut their reliance on China for critical minerals.
The U.S. Department of Defense is already barred from procuring solar photovoltaic cells, modules or inverters manufactured by a foreign entity of concern, which would include Chinese companies, according to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026.
DRONES AND ROUTERS
The Trump administration has previously considered banning inverters from China, nine people familiar with the matter said. Last summer, the White House's National Energy Dominance Council instructed the Commerce Department to draft an expedited ban, but the effort stalled, three of the sources said.
Detente with Beijing had prompted the Commerce Department to shelve a raft of punitive measures targeting Chinese technology, Reuters reported, including restrictions aimed at Chinese-origin drone and router makers.
The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The FCC later stepped in, imposing its own bans on new foreign models of drones and routers. Those bans, imposed in December and March, respectively, allow companies to apply for waivers to access the U.S. market with new equipment. None have so far been granted to Chinese firms.
The FCC emphasized in a statement to Reuters those bans were "entirely country neutral and did not target any country in particular."
In Europe, policymakers are considering further plans to tighten up security around inverters, including by designating risky suppliers.
If the EU proposal is implemented, as part of the updated Cybersecurity Act, some Chinese inverter suppliers could be blacklisted.
A European Commission spokesperson emphasized that the act does not specifically designate any country, but proposes a framework to identify countries that pose cybersecurity concerns.
(Reporting by Sarah McFarlane in London and Alexandra Alper in Washington; Additional reporting by David Shephardson in Washington; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Jamie Freed)
