President Donald Trump is hosting leaders of five Central Asian countries at the White House as he intensifies his hunt for rare earth metals needed for high-tech devices, including smartphones, electric vehicles and fighter jets.

Trump and the officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are holding an evening summit.

The Thursday meeting comes the heels of Trump managing at least a temporary thaw with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on differences between the two countries over the export of rare earth elements, a key point of friction in their trade negotiations.

After Trump-Xi talks in South Korea last week, China said it would delay its new rare earth export restrictions by one year.

Washington is now looking for new ways to circumvent Chin

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