Trump, Putin and Xi to Hold First Three-Way Meeting in Shenzhen on Nov. 19, White House and Kremlin Say

U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold the first three-way meeting among the three leaders on Thursday, Nov. 19, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the White House said Friday, CBS News reported. The Kremlin confirmed the meeting on Saturday. "An agreement has been reached to hold a trilateral meeting on the 19th [of November] between President Putin, President Xi, and President Trump. This meeting will take place in Shenzhen on the sidelines of the APEC summit," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state news agency TASS.

Beijing had not publicly confirmed the three-way session as of Saturday. Chinese state media reported on Friday that Xi would take part in "bilateral" talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit, citing a foreign ministry spokesman, but had not reported on the trilateral meeting, the BBC reported. China's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Nov. 6 that discussions on the meeting were under way, Anadolu Agency reported, citing other reports.

Nuclear arms and Iran on the agenda

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told reporters that nuclear weapons would be a central topic. "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, according to the BBC.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a call: "I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin," CBS News reported. No agreement was expected to follow the talks, an unnamed senior U.S. official said, according to the BBC, which cited the news agencies AP and Reuters.

The talks come months after a nuclear weapons control treaty between the United States and Russia expired in February, leaving the world's biggest nuclear arsenals without major guardrails, the BBC reported. The United Nations has urged both sides to agree a new framework without delay, while Trump has said he could replace the deal with a better agreement that included China, which has been building up its arsenal.

Trump's Asia schedule

Trump will leave Washington on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) before heading to Shenzhen, CBS News reported. He will arrive in Shenzhen late on Wednesday for the two-day APEC summit, which Anadolu Agency said is scheduled for Nov. 18-19, and will hold bilateral talks with Xi on Thursday, the BBC reported. CBS News said the bilateral session will include a working lunch and will be the two leaders' fourth meeting since Trump's return to office.

APEC represents more than 60% of global GDP, the Guardian reported, adding that U.S. officials will hold a sidelines meeting of the Quad, which groups Australia, India, Japan and the United States, while Trump is in Manila.

Ukraine kept off the table

U.S. officials said the war in Ukraine is not expected to be discussed in Shenzhen. Washington has a "whole other track" of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow, the senior official said, according to CBS News. "China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn't seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there," the official added. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Nov. 12 that Putin and Trump could continue discussing "the full range of issues related to a settlement in Ukraine" during the meeting, The New Voice of Ukraine reported.

The announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said U.S. negotiators had raised the idea of Ukraine withdrawing its remaining forces from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for NATO membership. "The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins Nato? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," Zelensky said in remarks released by his office on Saturday, according to the BBC. A U.S. official told the BBC that "many ideas continue to be discussed but any final deal will have to be agreed to by both parties." U.S. envoy Jared Kushner wrote on X that "both sides understand that practical compromises will be necessary to end this war," Al Jazeera reported.

Yalta comparisons and international reaction

Planning for the summit has drawn comparisons to the 1945 Yalta Conference, at which Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin agreed to divide Germany and Berlin into military occupation zones, CBS News reported. Peskov has dismissed the comparison. "It's clear that a meeting between the leaders of countries such as Russia, China and the United States is extremely significant," he said. "However, let's not forget that the vision for a global order is that no one tries to impose any particular view of global order, and it should be based entirely on mutual benefit and mutual respect."

European leaders voiced caution. "I want to state our message to the US very clearly once again: please, no surprises," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a meeting of EU leaders on Friday, according to the Guardian. French President Emmanuel Macron warned against forcing "an unjust peace" on Ukraine, and Zelensky has warned that the meeting must not turn into "Yalta 2, 3, 4," the Guardian reported. Speaking in Manila on Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the talks. "We think that dialogue is a good thing and we await the outcome of that dialogue," he said.

Xiaoyu Pu, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, told the Guardian that the three-way meeting "might be more symbolic than substantive, although symbolism itself matters in great-power diplomacy."

Sources

• CBS News: Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping to meet in first trilateral of its kind
• TASS: Putin, Xi Jinping, Trump trilateral summit to be held in Shenzhen on November 19 — Kremlin
• BBC: Trump, Putin and Xi plan historic joint meeting in China next week, White House says
• Anadolu Agency: Kremlin says Putin, Xi, Trump to hold trilateral meeting in Shenzhen on Nov. 19
• The Guardian: World leaders head to Asia for back-to-back diplomatic summits
• The Guardian: Anthony Albanese welcomes Trump-Xi-Putin summit
• The New Voice of Ukraine: Kremlin confirms Trump, Xi and Putin will meet in Shenzhen on Nov. 19
• BBC: US has floated Ukraine ceding Donbas for Nato membership, Zelensky says
• Al Jazeera: Give Donbas, take NATO seat: Could new US pitch work for Ukraine, Russia?