Trump, Xi and Putin will meet in China next Thursday (19), says White House

The White House announced this Friday (13) that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the leader of China, Xi Jinping, will hold a rare trilateral meeting next week, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen.

"The president made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world. President Trump considers this proliferation to be very dangerous," said White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales during a press conference about the talks between the leaders, scheduled for Thursday (19).

According to a Trump administration official, Elon Musk will also be present in the American delegation sent to the Asian country.

The meeting takes place at a delicate moment between the three powers. The leaders have a series of disagreements on issues such as the American conduct of the war in the Middle East and tariff tensions — in which Trump and Xi managed to negotiate a truce, extended on Monday (9).

While seeking to get closer to Beijing, on his second trip to China this year, Trump has tried to get closer to Moscow despite the difficulties in advancing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, which has lasted almost five years.

In addition to the current conflict with Kiev, Putin has deepened his military and intelligence partnership with the Iranian regime, something that is not viewed favorably by the White House.

According to information from the Associated Press news agency, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski expressed concerns that Thursday's trilateral meeting would serve as a platform to discuss an agreement on the conflict in his country, but without Kiev's participation.

Despite expectations for an agreement to end the Ukrainian conflict, senior White House officials said this Friday, on condition of anonymity, that the American president will focus his dialogue on finding solutions to the war in Iran, in addition to fulfilling his objective of reaching an agreement on nuclear arsenals.

The last Russian-American pact on nuclear arms control expired in February, ending any limits placed on the two largest atomic arsenals in history. Since the expiration of the treaty, known as New START, Trump has rejected requests from Moscow to extend the agreement for another year.

The American president defends, this time, "a new, improved and modernized agreement" that includes China.