Trump, Xi and Putin to meet in Shenzhen on November 19: the first trilateral meeting of the US, China and Russia leaders

Confirmed date and format

The meeting of the leaders of the United States, China and Russia will take place on November 19 in Shenzhen, China, on the sidelines of the APEC summit. The White House announced this on Friday: press secretary Olivia Wales said that Donald Trump will conclude his visit to China with a trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, the date was also confirmed by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the TASS agency: “An agreement has been reached to hold a trilateral meeting on the 19th between President Putin, Chairman Xi and President Trump.” The APEC summit, which brings together 21 economies, will be held on November 18–19. Moscow and Beijing did not officially comment on the meeting before the White House's Friday announcement; Chinese state media, citing the Foreign Ministry, reported only on “bilateral” talks by Xi on the sidelines of the summit. According to Anadolu, as early as November 6 China confirmed that discussion of the meeting was underway, and on November 8 Trump said he expected to meet Putin and Xi at the summit.

Nuclear disarmament — the central topic

“The President made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world, whose proliferation, in President Trump's view, is very dangerous,” Anadolu quotes Wales. The context of the talks is set by the expiration in February of the New START treaty between the United States and Russia: the world's largest nuclear arsenals were left without key constraints, and the UN called on the parties to agree on a new framework arrangement. Trump has meanwhile said he could replace the treaty with a better agreement involving China, which is building up its arsenal. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute cited by Deutsche Welle, in terms of accumulated warheads Russia ranks first, followed by the United States and China. China, however, has long refused trilateral talks, insisting that the United States and Russia, with their larger arsenals, should negotiate directly: in October, China's Foreign Ministry said that demanding Beijing join “so-called trilateral talks on nuclear disarmament at this stage” was “neither fair, nor reasonable, nor realistic.” An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese arsenal “is growing faster than anyone's in the world” and that it is time for Beijing to “sit at the adults' table.”

What to expect from the meeting: Iran — yes, Ukraine — no, an agreement — not expected

Washington has lowered expectations in advance. “We do not expect any agreement,” said a senior American official, calling the meeting “a starting point, the first leaders-level conversation between these countries.” According to him, Trump plans to discuss Iran at the trilateral meeting, but not Ukraine: the United States has “a separate track” of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow on ending the war, and China is not part of it, so discussing Ukraine in this format “does not seem appropriate.” Right before the meeting with Xi and Putin, Trump has bilateral talks and a working lunch with the Chinese leader scheduled for Thursday — their fourth meeting since Trump's return to the White House in 2025. One official described it as a “check on implementation” of the trade agreement and added that no announcements on tariff changes are expected; on rare earth metals, he noted, Washington “is not receiving them at the pace and in the volume we would like” — which is precisely why the agreement reached in Busan was extended by two months rather than six. The itinerary itself: departure from Washington on Monday, Manila with meetings in the Quad and ASEAN formats on Tuesday, arrival in Shenzhen on Wednesday. For part of the China visit, Trump is accompanied by Elon Musk, but, according to American officials, he will not take part in official meetings.