Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are planning to meet on the sidelines of a summit in China next week, the White House has said, the BBC reported. Spokeswoman Olivia Wales told reporters the meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia and China would take place as Trump attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen. "The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world, whose proliferation President Trump believes is very dangerous," she said. It is understood Iran may also be discussed, but not Ukraine. Russia has confirmed the meeting. China has yet to react. An unnamed senior U.S. official told news agencies that no agreement was expected to follow.
Trump will arrive in Shenzhen late Wednesday for the two-day gathering of the 21-member forum and will also hold bilateral talks with Xi on Thursday, their fourth meeting since Trump returned to office in 2025. "President Trump will conclude his visit to China with a trilateral meeting between the president of the United States, the president of the People's Republic of China, and the president of the Russian Federation," Wales said. The trip will also include an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in the Philippines on Tuesday, which she said would "secure historic wins to the American people and advance America's interests in the Indo Pacific."
A nuclear-weapons control treaty between the United States and Russia expired in February, leaving the world's largest arsenals without major guardrails. The United Nations has urged a new framework without delay. Trump has said he could replace the deal with a better agreement that included China, which has been building up its own arsenal. Former senior U.S. officials and analysts told the BBC earlier that seeking Beijing's and Moscow's cooperation could create major hurdles and take years. Xi hosted both Putin and Trump in Beijing days apart earlier this year, and Trump welcomed Xi to Washington in September.
Beijing has become a crucial trading partner for Moscow since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A controversial U.S. deal to import Russian diesel, and the suspension of sanctions on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas, including China, heightened European concern last month about a softer U.S. line toward the Kremlin. Chinese state media reported on Friday that Xi would take part in "bilateral" talks on the sidelines of APEC, citing a foreign ministry spokesman, but has not reported the trilateral meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said there were "signals confirming readiness" for such talks. The verified news is a planned meeting described by the White House and acknowledged by Russia, not a completed summit or a new arms-control treaty.