President Trump told reporters on Sunday night that he expects to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin when he travels to China next week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen. Trump's attendance at the summit is confirmed. A three-way meeting is not.
Speaking to reporters on an airport tarmac, Mr. Trump said he is going to China and that "one of the meetings I think will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that'll be interesting," according to a transcript of the gaggle published by writer Tommy Christopher. That is a third-party transcript, not an official White House record. The notes also show a discrepancy on where he spoke: Breitbart names the Donald J. Trump International Airport, while AOL places it at the West Palm Beach airport near Mar-a-Lago.
Note the words "I think." The president did not say the meeting is set, and as of this reporting no White House or Kremlin schedule has confirmed it. Reuters, as syndicated by Nikkei Asia, appears to frame the remarks as something Mr. Trump thinks is likely rather than a done deal, though that is based on a search snippet of the report rather than its full text.
What the Leaders Might Talk About
News coverage of the remarks says Mr. Trump described denuclearization and ending the Iran war as topics for such a meeting. The transcript itself is less direct. In the same gaggle, he said "We're trying to end the war in Iran," and he also referred to Operation Iron Gate and a naval blockade. The transcript as quoted in the notes does not show that remark as a statement of the trilateral meeting's agenda.
The arms-control angle is not new. Mr. Trump said in October that he was open to three-way talks focused on denuclearization, according to an NTD item citing Reuters. We have seen only a snippet of that item. The Japan Times, also seen only in snippet form, reported that he described such a meeting as one of a handful he hopes to hold in Shenzhen.
Ukraine may also come up, though that is less certain. The Wall Street Journal reported, as relayed by News Karnataka, that Mr. Putin proposed using a three-way meeting to discuss ending the war there. The American side has not confirmed that Ukraine would be on any agenda. Separately, a transcript snippet from the Last Refuge site has Mr. Trump referring to U.S.-Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on November 9 and 10. That is thin sourcing, and we have not confirmed those talks independently.
Moscow Leans In, Beijing Hedges
The Kremlin has sounded the most eager of the three capitals. Breitbart reported that the Kremlin said "work is underway" on arranging the meeting, and that spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a "general understanding among the participants" that such a meeting would be worthwhile. Breitbart attributes the Kremlin statement to Tuesday and also to last week, so it is unclear which week is meant. Breitbart also cited the Financial Times, which reported that American, Chinese and Russian officials had held talks about a first three-way meeting.
Beijing has been harder to read. Reports on Monday had China's Foreign Ministry saying it was holding consultations with American and Russian representatives, while another account, from censor.net, had the ministry saying it had no information about a possible meeting. Those reports conflict, and China's actual position remains unresolved. A report that Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the meeting had been discussed appeared in only one outlet, censor.net, and could not be independently verified.
Counting the Meetings
Breitbart counted a Shenzhen meeting as Mr. Trump's fourth in-person encounter with Mr. Xi and his second with Mr. Putin since January 2025, a tally we have not independently checked.
Breitbart's headline said flatly that the president "will meet" both men, which goes further than his own words. Its story also placed the remarks on Monday in one spot and Sunday night in another. The transcript and Reuters, per the Nikkei snippet, place them on Sunday. Breitbart also inserted "[Xi]" into one of the president's quotes where the transcript reads "He just left here," and the transcript does not make clear whom "he" refers to.
What Comes Next
The APEC leaders' summit runs November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, and the president's attendance is confirmed. A three-way meeting is not. The signs to watch over the next week are a White House readout or schedule, a firm word from China's Foreign Ministry, and whether the Kremlin's "work is underway" turns into a date and a time.
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