Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are planning to hold a historic joint meeting on the sidelines of an upcoming summit in China, according to the White House.
Trilateral Talks in Shenzhen
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told reporters that the meeting between the leaders of the US, Russia and China will happen during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen. She stated that the American leader intends to address global nuclear weapon reductions, noting that he considers weapons proliferation very dangerous.
The discussion among the world’s largest nuclear powers may also include Iran, though Ukraine will not be part of the talks. Moscow and Beijing have not yet issued comments regarding the announcement.
An unnamed senior American official told news agencies AP and Reuters that no formal agreements are anticipated to emerge from the discussions.
Schedule and Diplomatic Context
Trump is scheduled to reach Shenzhen late on Wednesday for the two-day gathering involving 21 member states. He will additionally conduct bilateral discussions with Xi on Thursday, marking their fourth encounter since Trump took office again in 2025.
Wales explained that Trump will conclude his journey, which begins with an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in the Philippines on Tuesday, by participating in the trilateral session with the Chinese and Russian presidents to advance American interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
A bilateral arms control pact between Washington and Moscow lapsed in February, removing major safeguards for the planet’s largest nuclear stockpiles and concluding decades of arms control collaboration established during the Cold War. The United Nations has pressed both nations to establish a replacement framework swiftly, while Trump has expressed a desire to craft a superior agreement incorporating China, which is actively expanding its military stockpile.
Analysts and former senior US officials previously informed the BBC that pursuing cooperation from both Beijing and Moscow could encounter significant obstacles and require years of effort.
Earlier this year, Xi hosted both Putin and Trump in Beijing within days of each other, and the US president hosted his Chinese counterpart in Washington in September.
While Chinese state media referenced bilateral talks via a foreign ministry spokesman on Friday, they have not mentioned the trilateral gathering. Meanwhile, Russian state news agency Tass reported earlier this month that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated signals of readiness for such a summit.
