The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will hold its second annual conference (see 2205310044) Sept. 14 in-person at the Treasury Department, the agency announced. The conference will include keynote speeches and panel discussions with government officials “who will provide insights on topics relevant to the Committee’s work.” Event registration will open Aug. 21 and agenda information is “forthcoming,” Treasury said.

The State Department approved a potential $120.5 million military sale to Romania of “Assault Amphibious Vehicles” and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said July 27. The principal contractor hasn’t yet been determined.

Rebecca Dye of the Federal Maritime Commission proposed new sets of best practices for ocean carriers and marine terminal operators at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Port of New York and New Jersey, covering activities surrounding container returns, earliest return dates and container pickups.

The Semiconductor Industry Association this week released a report on the state of the American chip industry, highlighting issues surrounding U.S. Chips Act implementation, the manufacturing industrial base, global chip demand, American technological competitiveness, geopolitical tensions impacting the industry and more.

The Commerce and Defense departments this week signed a memorandum of understanding to improve collaboration on their efforts to strengthen the American semiconductor defense industrial base, including through Chips Act funding. The memorandum will increase information sharing between the two agencies, including by allowing officials to coordinate on national security reviews of Chips Act funding applications, Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt said. Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, said it’s “essential for DoD and DoC to consult one another to ensure we are making complementary investments that support a robust semiconductor industrial base.”

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is investigating whether TuSimple Holdings is complying with a national security agreement between CFIUS and the U.S.-based self-driving truck and autonomous freight shipping technology company, TuSimple said. The company said it’s “cooperating with the inquiry,” which is examining “information shared by TuSimple U.S.” with its China-based businesses: Hydron and Hydron’s partners.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada will have a "Stop Work" meeting on July 25 to recommend the settlement terms to its members, ILWU Canada said in a statement July 21. The ILWU Canada Longshore Caucus approved the terms as originally proposed July 13 by a federal mediator, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said in a statement (see 2307130038). The caucus had initially rejected the terms, leading to a short-lived resumption of a strike by dockworkers at Canadian West Coast ports (see 2307190031 and 2307200050).

The State Department approved a potential $2.9 billion military sale to Germany for “AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles” and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said July 19. The principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The Federal Maritime Commission published its spring 2023 regulatory agenda and continued to mention several rules to implement the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, including a proposed rule to define unfair or unjustly discriminatory methods that violate U.S. shipping regulations. The FMC said it plans to issue that rule in December.

Scott Boylan, a partner with consulting firm StoneTurn, spoke during a webinar July 12 on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (see 2307120029).