U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their first trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen on Nov. 18-19. A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press on Nov. 13 that the main topic will be nuclear non-proliferation. This official said Trump plans to discuss the war in Iran but not the war in Ukraine.
Disagreement over the agenda
The White House plan ignores the Kremlin’s stance on the conflict. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian state media on Nov. 12 that Trump and Putin would hold "in-depth talks on a peace settlement" in China. He said they will "continue to discuss the full range of issues related to the settlement" during the meeting. This contradicts the senior U.S. official who stated the meeting is meant to be the "beginning of hopefully a conversation" on nuclear disarmament. I find the White House’s dismissal of the conflict as a meeting topic completely dismissive of the geopolitical reality.
Nuclear concerns and regional tensions
The three leaders hold the world’s largest nuclear stockpiles, though Washington and Moscow possess much larger arsenals than Beijing. The New START treaty expired in February 2026 after the Trump administration allowed it to lapse. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump wants a new agreement because "it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China" given their growing stockpile. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Xi has no interest in discussing Russia’s war against Ukraine because he believes Europe should play that role. Kyiv Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha lambasted the summit proposal, saying it would only "encourage Putin to continue this war."
