Analysis
May 5, 2026
Defense Production Act energy orders set stage for higher steel use
Written by Laura Miller
The Trump administration recently issued a series of Defense Production Act determinations covering pipelines, LNG terminals, petroleum production, grid equipment, and large-scale energy infrastructure. Each sector is now designated as essential to national defense. The orders give the Department of Energy authority to speed construction, expand domestic manufacturing, and support critical supply chains.
DPA orders
The DPA is a US law that grants the president powers to ensure the nation’s defense by expanding and expediting the supply of materials and services from the domestic industrial base. On the books since 1950, it dates back to the Cold War era.
The Trump administration’s determinations under Section 303 of the DPA authorize the Department of Energy to use DPA tools to accelerate construction, life extension, and manufacturing capacity across multiple sectors. That includes coal-fired baseload upgrades, refinery and pipeline expansions, natural gas and LNG infrastructure, and domestic production of transformers, conductors, and electrical core steel.
The determinations build on Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency on Jan. 20, 2025, which emphasized the development of domestic energy supplies.
In the determinations, the Trump administration cites “dangerously limited” domestic capacity for transformers, high-voltage components, and electrical steel. DPA support for core steel, lamination lines, and transformer manufacturing suggests new investment cycles in grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), plate, and fabricated structures.
Midstream and LNG infrastructure determinations also point to multi-year steel demand. They cover gathering and transmission pipelines, compression, processing plants, underground storage, and LNG export terminals.
The determinations also designate domestic petroleum production, refining capacity, and pipeline logistics as essential to national defense. It allows the DOE to use DPA authorities to accelerate upgrades, expansions, and critical infrastructure needed to stabilize fuel supply chains.
On the power-generation side, the coal-focused order explicitly calls for reliability upgrades, stockpile expansion, and life-extension work at baseload plants.
A separate determination covering “large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure” opens the door to DPA support for engineering, site prep, permitting, and domestic manufacturing tied to major energy projects.
Depending on how the DOE deploys financing and purchase commitments, the moves could lift demand for OCTG, line pipe, plate, structural steel, and electrical steels.
Industry reaction
Industry groups say the determinations confirm the central role of domestic steelmaking in energy security.
Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President and CEO Philip K. Bell said the administration’s use of the DPA underscores the need to expand US industrial capacity.
“President Trump and his team were right to leverage the Defense Production Act to accelerate the expansion of domestic manufacturing capacity,” Bell said in a statement to SMU. “By pairing this authority with targeted financial incentives, the federal government can catalyze production of critical goods at the scale and speed this moment requires.”
He added the DPA has a “proven track record” in energy-related production and is well-suited for broader deployment.
In addition, the US OCTG Manufacturers Association said the determinations reinforce the link between energy security and American-made pipe.
“By utilizing the Defense Production Act to accelerate the development of domestic pipelines, LNG facilities, and petroleum production, the administration is providing a catalyst for domestic steel demand,” USOMA told SMU. “American energy security is built on a foundation of American-made steel that includes the steel pipes necessary for oil and gas production.”
At the same time, the group warned that unfairly traded imports continue to undermine the very capacity the DPA aims to support.
“Our industry continues to face an onslaught of unfairly traded imports that threaten the very capacity the DPA seeks to protect,” USOMA said. The group recently filed new AD/CVD cases against Austria, Taiwan, and the UAE, and said high-volume imports from South Korea continue to displace US production.
“We applaud the administration’s focus on energy dominance and look forward to working together to ensure that the steel pipes used to secure our nation’s energy future are manufactured here at home—free from the distortions of unfair foreign trade,” USOMA said.
Meanwhile, grid-related determinations also drew support from Cleveland-Cliffs. As a major producer of electrical steels used in transformers, the company said it “has a critical role in supporting grid infrastructure and reducing reliance on foreign sources for essential materials.”
Cliffs said it expects the DPA designations to reinforce investment in transformer manufacturing and grid modernization, areas already constrained by long lead times and limited domestic capacity.
“This action recognizes the essential role that reliable, resilient energy systems play in safeguarding our economy and national interests as well as the importance of a secure domestic supply chain,” the company said in a statement to SMU.
Taken together, the determinations frame energy infrastructure as a defense-industrial priority. Steel is embedded in every segment. But industry groups stress that domestic capacity can only expand if trade enforcement keeps pace with the policy push.
