<h1>U.S. trip focuses on trade negotiations: investment commitments for tariff reductions, export controls, and regional ceasefire diplomacy.</h1> The administration seeks commitments from Japan and South Korea for approximately $900 billion in investments in exchange for reducing tariff rates from 25% to 15%, while using summit and bilateral meetings to address a Sino U.S. trade dispute marked by Chinese export controls on rare earths, retaliatory tariff threats, and U.S. demands for commodity purchases; the trip also advances conditional trade leverage with other trading partners and pursues regional ceasefire diplomacy amid domestic government shutdown impacts on trade and transport operations.