Trump, Putin And Xi To Hold Trilateral Talks In China, White House Confirms

By Sabiu Abdullahi

United States President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a joint meeting in China next week, the White House has announced.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, southern China, where Trump is expected to attend a two-day gathering of leaders from the 21 member economies.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales confirmed the planned meeting, saying Trump would use the opportunity to discuss nuclear weapons reduction among other issues.

“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.

Wales added that Trump would conclude his China visit with a meeting involving the leaders of the three countries.

“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,” she said.

The talks could also address Iran, although Ukraine is not expected to feature on the agenda, according to the report. A senior US official said no agreement was expected to emerge from the meeting.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in Shenzhen late on Wednesday and hold separate bilateral talks with Xi on Thursday. The meeting would be their fourth since Trump returned to office in 2025.

The US president is also expected to attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Philippines on Tuesday. Wales said the trip would “secure historic wins to the American people and advance America’s interests in the Indo Pacific”.

The planned meeting comes amid concerns over the future of nuclear arms control following the expiration of a major US-Russia treaty in February. The agreement had placed limits on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals.

The United Nations has urged Washington and Moscow to negotiate a replacement framework. Trump, however, has suggested that a new agreement should also include China, which has been expanding its nuclear arsenal.

Former US officials and analysts previously told the BBC that securing cooperation from both Beijing and Moscow could prove difficult and take years.

China and Russia have strengthened their economic ties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has remained an important trading partner for Russia despite Western sanctions.

Meanwhile, relations between Washington and Beijing have included efforts by Trump and Xi to project warmer ties through meetings in Beijing and Washington. However, major disagreements over trade, artificial intelligence and Taiwan remain unresolved.

The war in Iran is another issue affecting relations, as China remains Tehran’s largest buyer of oil and its biggest trading partner.

Russia has confirmed the planned trilateral meeting. China has yet to publicly comment on the announcement, although Chinese state media reported that Xi would hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media that there were “signals confirming readiness” for such talks.