Trump, Xi and Putin Plan Unprecedented Trilateral Meeting on APEC Sidelines in Shenzhen

The White House confirmed on Friday that Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin plan to sit down together on Thursday, on the sidelines of next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen. It would be the first gathering of the leaders of the world's three biggest nuclear powers in one room.

Analysts quoted in the Associated Press report say expectations for a breakthrough are low and that the meeting will carry more symbolism than substance. A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the session is expected to serve as a start to nuclear talks among the three and that no agreements are expected to be announced. According to that official, Trump plans to raise the U.S. war with Iran with Xi and Putin but will steer away from Ukraine.

The nuclear question has a clear backdrop. The last arms pact between Russia and the United States, New START, expired in February, lifting caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than 50 years. Russia had asked to extend the deal for another year. Trump rejected that and called for "a new, improved and modernized" agreement that includes China. The arithmetic complicates that goal: Pentagon estimates put Beijing's arsenal at more than 600 warheads, while the U.S. and Russia are each estimated to hold more than 5,000. China has shown little interest in a nuclear pact.

The three relationships behind the table are all complicated. Trump has warmly embraced Xi since a truce in their short-lived trade war last year, despite differences over the Iran war and other tensions. He has also tried to build ties with Putin, even as Putin presses on with a war in Ukraine that is nearly five years old and as Moscow deepens its military, intelligence and diplomatic partnership with Iran. Trump recently struck a diesel deal with Russia that waives sanctions and allows the sale of millions of tons of fuel. He has blamed surging energy prices on Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, though analysts say the rise in crude prices stems mostly from the Iran war.

The leaders know one another well in pairs. Xi and Putin have met more than 40 times since Xi became president in 2013 and call each other "dear friend." Trump and Putin have met face to face seven times, most recently in Alaska in August 2025. Trump and Xi have held eight in-person talks, including Xi's state visit to Washington in September. China is Russia's top trading partner, a tie that has strengthened since Russian troops entered Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has increased purchases of Russian energy and become Moscow's main supplier of key technologies, including high-tech components for Russian weapons industries, ignoring Western demands to stop. Before the invasion, Xi and Putin declared a "no-limits friendship." China officially calls itself neutral on Ukraine while blaming Kyiv's Western allies for provoking Russia.

Each host and guest may be calculating differently. Beijing appears least certain of the summit's value; by hosting, Xi may see a chance to show China's rising clout. The Kremlin gets a chance to posture as a superpower on par with Washington and Beijing. Edgard Kagan, a former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Putin's aim was to signal that the leaders are making decisions on Ukraine, which Ukrainians and Europeans dislike.

The meeting could also overshadow APEC itself, which brings 21 economies to Shenzhen, a city that grew from a small fishing village into a global technology hub within a few decades. Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University, said it could undercut China's pitch as a defender of free trade: "You sort of run counter to Chinese support of multilateralism." It could also muddy Beijing's argument that a Cold War mentality in the West helped cause the Ukraine war, and its criticism that the U.S. has undermined international institutions and treaties through its conduct of the Iran war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced concern that the meeting could become a platform to discuss a Ukraine deal behind Kyiv's back. Comparisons have been drawn to the 1945 Yalta Conference, where the U.S., Britain and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Germany and Berlin into four occupation zones. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected that, noting that any agreements reached in Shenzhen cannot be enforced on others. What to watch Thursday is whether anything is said about Ukraine, and how Kyiv and European capitals respond.