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United States President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their first trilateral meeting in Shenzhen, China, next Thursday, with nuclear arms reductions and the war against Iran expected to dominate discussions, the White House announced Friday.
The three leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, marking the first three-way meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia and China, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told reporters.
"The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world. This proliferation, President Trump believes, is very dangerous," Wales said.
U.S. officials said Trump also intended to raise the ongoing conflict with Iran, while Russia's war in Ukraine was not expected to feature on the agenda.
"I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin," a senior U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official said Washington was pursuing separate negotiations with Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine, following recent diplomatic contacts involving Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn't seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there," the official added.
The unprecedented trilateral meeting has raised concerns in Ukraine about the possibility of the world's major powers negotiating arrangements affecting other countries.
Zelenskyy has warned that the Shenzhen summit could resemble a new version of the 1945 Yalta Conference, describing the risk as a "redistribution of spheres of influence" in the 21st century.
At the historic Yalta summit, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin discussed the postwar settlement and Europe's political future.
The planned gathering comes as the Trump administration pursues a foreign policy emphasizing U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere, including its capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
However, U.S. officials indicated that negotiations over Ukraine would remain separate from the trilateral discussions.
Washington has been conducting talks with Russian and Ukrainian representatives as part of efforts to end the war, including recent meetings involving U.S. envoys and the two countries' presidents.
Alongside the trilateral summit, Trump is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting and working lunch with Xi on Thursday.
The meeting will be their fourth since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
However, Trump is not scheduled to meet Putin separately during his visit to China, U.S. officials said.
The officials also indicated that the resignation of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang amid allegations involving a suspected Chinese intelligence operative was not expected to feature in Trump's discussions with Xi.
"The situation with Nvidia should not really have any bearing on the trip," a second senior U.S. official said.
Washington also does not plan to negotiate export controls on sensitive semiconductor technologies during the visit.
"We do not negotiate American export controls. These are national security matters that we develop in the administration... and we don't expect it to figure at all in any of our conversations with the Chinese while we're there," the official said.
The export restrictions have been a sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations, particularly amid competition over advanced semiconductor technology.
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Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk will accompany Trump on his visit to China but will not participate in the trilateral meeting with Putin and Xi, according to U.S. officials.
Trump is scheduled to depart Washington on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday to attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
He will then travel to Shenzhen for the APEC gathering, where his meetings with Xi and Putin are scheduled for Thursday.
The summit will bring together leaders from the Asia-Pacific region as Washington, Beijing and Moscow prepare for talks on nuclear weapons, regional conflicts and broader international security issues.
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