WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to join Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for an unprecedented three-way meeting during next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, according to the White House and senior U.S. officials. The planned gathering would bring the leaders of the world’s three major nuclear powers into the same formal talks for the first time.
The White House confirmed that the meeting is expected to take place on Thursday, November 19, on the sidelines of the APEC leaders’ gathering. Assistant Press Secretary Olivia Wales said Trump would conclude his China visit with the trilateral session. The announcement was also reported by The Associated Press and CBS News.
Senior U.S. officials said the discussions are expected to focus heavily on nuclear weapons and the possibility of reducing the three countries’ nuclear arsenals. Trump also intends to raise the war involving Iran. However, officials said he does not plan to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine during the three-way session, arguing that Washington is pursuing a separate diplomatic track with Kyiv and Moscow.
Nuclear Arms Control Expected To Dominate Talks
The proposed meeting comes at a significant moment for global arms control. The last remaining nuclear arms agreement between Washington and Moscow, the New START treaty, expired in February 2026, ending the treaty’s limits on the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals. Its expiration removed a key framework that had governed the world’s two largest nuclear stockpiles for more than a decade.
Trump has advocated a new and expanded arms-control arrangement that would include China. U.S. officials have described the Shenzhen meeting as an opening conversation rather than a negotiation expected to produce an immediate agreement. One senior official said the gathering should be viewed as an entry point for future leader-level discussions on nuclear disarmament.
The scale of the nuclear imbalance is likely to complicate those discussions. Pentagon estimates cited by the Associated Press put China’s nuclear arsenal at more than 600 warheads, compared with more than 5,000 each for the United States and Russia. Beijing has argued that its stockpile remains far smaller than those of Washington and Moscow and has questioned the fairness of being asked to enter trilateral arms-control negotiations at this stage.
China’s position has been a major obstacle to Trump’s ambition for a three-country agreement. Beijing has previously said its nuclear capabilities are not at the same level as those of the United States and Russia, making equal restrictions difficult to justify. Reuters reported this week that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the importance of leader-level conversations on peace and denuclearization, although the Chinese public readout did not mention the nuclear issue.
Iran On The Agenda, Ukraine Expected To Be Left Out
Iran is also expected to feature in the discussion. U.S. officials said Trump intends to speak with Xi and Putin about the conflict involving Iran and efforts to bring the war to an end. Both China and Russia have important diplomatic and strategic relationships in the region, giving the two leaders a role in any wider conversation about regional security.
Ukraine, however, is expected to be excluded from the trilateral agenda. Officials said the United States is conducting separate discussions with Ukraine and Russia, and that China is not part of that negotiating channel. The decision may draw attention because the war remains one of the most consequential security disputes between Russia and the West.
The absence of Ukraine from the planned agenda is also likely to be watched closely in Kyiv and European capitals. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously expressed concern about any discussions over the future of Ukraine taking place without Ukrainian participation. The White House’s stated position is that the trilateral meeting will concentrate on issues involving all three participating powers, particularly nuclear weapons and Iran.
A Diplomatic Milestone With Different Objectives
Although the meeting is being described as unprecedented, the three leaders are approaching it with different priorities. Trump has presented nuclear arms reduction as a central objective and has also indicated that he wants to discuss Iran. Xi is likely to be cautious about any arrangement that could constrain China’s expanding nuclear capabilities while the country’s arsenal remains substantially smaller than those of the United States and Russia.
For Putin, participation offers an opportunity to engage directly with the leaders of Washington and Beijing at a time when Russia remains under international pressure over its invasion of Ukraine. Analysts quoted by the Associated Press have noted that the optics of the meeting may carry as much significance as its immediate policy outcomes, particularly for Moscow’s effort to be treated as a major global power.
For Xi, hosting the gathering during APEC offers a platform to demonstrate China’s diplomatic reach. Yet the meeting also presents a delicate balance: Beijing wants to project itself as a supporter of multilateral cooperation while avoiding commitments that could place limits on its nuclear strategy or complicate its relationships with other international partners.
What The Meeting Could — And Could Not — Deliver
Expectations for a breakthrough remain limited. U.S. officials have said they do not anticipate a formal agreement or major announcement from the first meeting. The more immediate objective appears to be establishing direct communication among the three leaders and testing whether a broader conversation on nuclear risk reduction can move forward.
Even an initial discussion could matter if it creates a channel for future talks at a time when the previous U.S.-Russia nuclear framework has expired and China is increasing its nuclear capabilities. However, substantial progress would require agreement on difficult questions, including how to account for the different sizes of the three arsenals, what weapons and systems should be covered, and how any commitments would be verified.
The meeting will also be closely observed for signs of whether the three powers can cooperate on areas of shared concern despite their competing interests over Ukraine, Iran, trade, technology and regional influence. A joint appearance alone would not resolve those differences, but it would create a rare opportunity for direct discussion among the leaders.
Trump is expected to meet Xi separately for a bilateral meeting and working lunch before the trilateral session. He will travel to China after attending ASEAN-related meetings in Manila, the Philippines. The APEC leaders’ summit is scheduled for November 18–19 in Shenzhen, with the three-way meeting expected to take place at the conclusion of Trump’s China visit.
Sources: The Associated Press; CBS News; Reuters via ThePrint; Anadolu Agency.