Trump Says He Expects to Meet Xi and Putin at APEC Summit in Shenzhen
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expects to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in China next week, in what would be the first formal three-way meeting of the three leaders.
Trump told reporters before flying back to Washington from Florida that he will travel to China for the APEC summit, set for November 18-19 in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, and that he expects a trilateral meeting to take place on the sidelines.
“One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that’ll be interesting. We’re talking a lot of things, including denuclearization, but we’ll be talking a lot of things. We’re trying to end the war in Iran,” Trump said.
Beijing Confirms Talks Under Way
China has confirmed that discussions about a possible meeting are under way. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing in Beijing that China was “in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state.”
No final decision has been announced on whether the meeting will take place. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that work was under way to arrange it and that he hoped it would be finalised in the coming days.
The three leaders have met separately but have never held formal talks together, so a three-way encounter in Shenzhen would be a first.
Trade, Arms Control and the Iran War
Trump said in October that he was open to three-way arms control talks with Xi and Putin focused on denuclearization, and he repeated on Sunday that the subject would be on the agenda, along with efforts to end the war in Iran.
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The Wall Street Journal later reported that Putin has pitched using a trilateral meeting to discuss an end to Russia’s long-running war in Ukraine. Trump said in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that he believed the two sides were very close to making a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, without offering specifics.
Trump is also expected to meet Xi separately in Shenzhen for the third time this year, as the two countries seek to maintain a fragile trade truce that is due to expire in January. The bilateral talks are expected to focus on trade, with Beijing raising concerns over US restrictions on Chinese trade and economic activity.
A Summit of 21 Economies
China is hosting this year’s APEC leaders’ summit, a grouping of 21 economies that includes the United States and Russia. Xi is hosting leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region, and all three presidents are expected to attend.
Experts have cautioned that the three leaders’ conflicting interests could limit the scope for substantive discussions. Beijing may be more interested in the diplomatic optics of the gathering, while Washington and Moscow each bring their own priorities to the table.
What Happens Next
With the summit little more than a week away, officials in Beijing, Washington and Moscow are still working on the logistics. Whether the trilateral meeting is confirmed in the coming days will determine whether Shenzhen produces a historic photograph — or a substantive discussion on nuclear arms, trade and the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
