The 30-minute call comes as Lee, a liberal from South Korea's Democratic Party, seeks to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North-South relations are at their most strained in decades amid Kim's frequent ballistic missile tests and North Korean troop deployments to support Russia's war against Ukraine.

Shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he launched a tariff war against China, as part of a broader implementation of import taxes on goods from several dozen countries as Trump seeks to reset the foundations of global trade.

Gold prices firmed on Wednesday as investors stayed cautious amid lingering uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade truce and waited for key U.S. inflation data for clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory.

Reportedly Beijing is only offering a concession that it had already offered a month ago to lift the blockade on shipments of rare earth minerals. The current deal may be a short-term solution for a much larger,

President Donald Trump said the deal with China is "done." His former Commerce Secretary told Business Insider it's far from comprehensive.

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