The Treasury Department released its agenda for its second annual conference for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which will be held Sept. 14 in person at the Treasury building in Washington. Speakers include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, CFIUS head Paul Rosen and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The conference will include sessions on CFIUS priorities, investor due diligence, non-notified transactions, compliance and enforcement and how other legal authorities affect CFIUS. Event registration closes Aug. 31.

Over 100 organizations led by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) signed a letter urging the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach to oppose a "potential Indirect Source Rule (ISR)" by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). In the letter to the mayors written Aug. 25, groups that include the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America warned that the ISR would have a "devastating impact" on jobs in California, the supply chain, the economy, the transition to "zero-emissions" equipment, the competitiveness of the ports, and the "economic vitality of Port-adjacent communities."

Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Aug. 24 announced 130 new industry officials to sit on seven agricultural trade advisory committees, including bodies that advise the government on trade policies for animal products, fruits and vegetables, grains, cotton, nuts and more. The new members, who join 70 committee members whose terms haven’t yet expired, will serve until August 2027. The new members represent a range of trade groups and companies.

A pair of U.S. and Israeli 3D printing technology companies said they are submitting disclosures to both the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the State Department ahead of their planned $500 million combination, Squire Patton said in an Aug. 24 post. Israeli-based Stratasys plans to acquire U.S.-based Desktop Metal, which was described in an August SEC filing as a “pioneering a new generation of additive manufacturing technologies” focused on the “volume production of end-use parts.” The companies said they submitted a “notice filing” to CFIUS in July and plan to submit a “notice filing” to the State Department “pursuant” to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

The State Department approved a potential $500 million military sale to Taiwan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 23. The sale includes “F-16 Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin.

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Poland that includes $12 billion worth of “AH-64E Apache Helicopters” and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 21. The principal contractors will be Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The Treasury Department this week released its list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. Listed are Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. The list is unchanged from the previous version (see 2304070037).

The State Department approved $975 million worth of “M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems” and related equipment for a potential military sale to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 18. The principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Corp., Leonardo DRS and Oshkosh Corp.

The Commerce Department is giving a selection committee more time to choose the board members for a National Semiconductor Technology Center (see 2304250032), a key piece of the Chips Act designed to bring together the government, national labs, chip companies, suppliers, academia, investors and others to collaborate on semiconductor matters. Commerce announced members of the selection committee in June and planned for the committee to “automatically terminate” by Aug. 31, but the agency said this week the committee “would benefit from additional time to complete this important task.” The termination date will now be Sept. 30.

A federal government payment website, Pay.gov, may be offline Aug. 19 from 6 p.m to 10 p.m. EDT during a "disaster recovery exercise," the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said. The outage will affect users paying their registration fees during this window. Users should direct questions and concerns to pay.gov customer support at 800-624-1373 or pay.gov.clev@clev.frb.org.