Trump Putin Xi meeting: White House confirms Shenzhen talks on 19 November, with Ukraine off the agenda
A senior US official said nuclear arms and Iran will be discussed in Shenzhen, no agreements are expected, and Ukraine is excluded.
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The White House confirmed on Friday that President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday 19 November in Shenzhen, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, AP reported. The Trump Putin Xi meeting is billed as an unprecedented joint session of the three leaders.
Trump Putin Xi meeting: what the White House said
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said: “The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world,” as quoted by Kyiv Post. A senior US official added that the talks will also cover Iran: “I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.”
The same official said Ukraine will stay off the table. “China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn’t seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there,” the official said, according to Kyiv Post. A senior US official told AP that no agreements are expected to be announced.
The Kremlin’s view on Ukraine
Moscow had signalled something different. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that during the meeting in Shenzhen, “discussion of the entire range of issues related to the settlement will continue,” Kyiv Post reported. The White House position departs from those statements.
AP said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is worried the meeting could be used to discuss a Ukraine deal without Kyiv. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected comparisons to the Yalta Conference and said any agreements reached cannot be enforced on others.
Key numbers
- 19 November: the date of the trilateral meeting, per Kyiv Post.
- 18 to 19 November: the dates of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen, per Clash Report, citing China’s Foreign Ministry.
- 21: the economies that make up APEC, per AP.
- More than 600 and more than 5,000: China’s nuclear warheads against the more than 5,000 each held by the United States and Russia, per AP.
Nuclear arms control and New START: the background
New START expired in February. Trump rejected Russia’s proposal to extend it by another year and called for “a new, improved and modernized” deal that includes China, AP reported. China has shown little interest in a nuclear pact.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington and Beijing disagreed on the format and that China opposes trilateral nuclear talks, according to Clash Report. China’s Friday APEC briefing said Xi would hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines and did not mention a trilateral session. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Washington not to spring “surprises” in talks with Putin in China.
On 8 November Trump told reporters: “One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that’ll be interesting.” His last in-person meeting with Putin was the August summit in Alaska. Our report on the Putin and Witkoff Kremlin talks covers Russia’s rejection of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
What happens next
The three leaders are due in Shenzhen on 19 November. No joint announcement has been issued by the three governments, Clash Report said, so the Trump Putin Xi meeting will be confirmed only when the leaders sit down.
The meeting puts the three biggest nuclear powers at one table months after New START expired, and it excludes Ukraine even as Moscow says the settlement will be discussed. China's reluctance to join nuclear talks and the missing joint announcement mean the session could still change shape before 19 November.