Donald Trump will speak with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Shenzhen

A meeting between Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will take place on Thursday in China, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen, the White House said on Friday. “The president made it clear that he would address, among other things, the issue of reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world. President Trump believes that this proliferation is very dangerous,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told reporters.

“I think the president has every intention of addressing the issue of Iran during the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin,” said a US official speaking on condition of anonymity during a call with the press. But “Washington is leading a completely different part” of negotiations with kyiv and Moscow, he added, specifying that China was “not really part of this part. “It therefore does not seem appropriate to address the issue of Ukraine.”

Elon Musk will accompany Donald Trump on his trip, but will not take part in the meeting. The US president will also host a lunch with Xi Jinping on Thursday. This will be their fourth interview since the Republican returned to the White House in January 2025. But it is not planned that Donald Trump will meet Vladimir Putin one on one.

“The Nvidia situation should not really have an impact on the trip,” added a second American official on condition of anonymity, regarding the recent resignation of Jensen Huang due in particular to his affair with a woman accused of spying for China.

“We do not negotiate US export controls. These are national security issues that we are dealing with within the administration (...) and we do not expect this to be addressed in our discussions with the Chinese,” continued this senior official. The issue of export controls on microchip technologies is at the heart of the Nvidia scandal.

Donald Trump will leave the United States on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday, before traveling to Shenzhen.