WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will host leaders of five Central Asian countries at the White House on Thursday as he intensifies his hunt for rare earth metals needed for high-tech devices, including smartphones, electric vehicles and fighter jets.

Diageo trimmed its 2026 sales and profit forecast on Thursday due to weakening U.S. and Chinese demand and left the lingering question of who will lead the world's top spirits maker unanswered after failing to announce a permanent CEO.

China called on the US to avoid four sensitive issues so a trade truce sealed between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping can hold, highlighting the broad array of disagreements that will test ties.

US and Chinese officials have reached a framework agreement, averting a potentially ruinous 157% tariff on Chinese goods while paving the way for a potential trade deal to be discussed between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump will host the leaders of five Central Asian nations at the White House on Thursday as the U.S. seeks to gain influence in a region long dominated by Russia and increasingly courted by China.

A shipment of sorghum has been sent from the United States to China over the last week, Mark Wilson, chairman ​of the U. Grains and BioProducts Council, said on Thursday, the first ‌known cargo following the recent meeting between the two countries' leaders.

China and the United States have lowered the temperature in their spiralling trade war, bringing a precarious end to months of back-and-forth measures between the economic and technological powerhouses.

Since Feb. 1, the US and China have entangled in a chaotic relationship, with tit-for-tat tariffs at times reaching triple-digit levels.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has intensified his warnings about the United States falling behind China in the race for artificial intelligence dominance, saying the East Asian nation could soon pull ahead. "China is going to win the AI race," Huang told the Financial Times on the sidelines of the media outlet's Future of AI Summit on Wednesday.

The recent nuclear tensions come after Russia tested a so-called doomsday device—the nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed Poseidon torpedo —and U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the military to immediately begin nuclear weapons tests to counter adversaries. Meanwhile, China, an emerging nuclear power, has showcased its n ewest ICBM f orce.