Leaders of the U.S., China and Russia Plan a First-Ever Three-Way Meeting

The leaders of the world's three largest nuclear powers are preparing to sit down together for the first time. The White House confirmed on Friday, and the Kremlin confirmed on Saturday, that President Trump, China's President Xi Jinping, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin plan to meet on November 19. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the session will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, which runs November 18 and 19.

U.S. officials described the gathering as the first three-way meeting among the leaders of the United States, China, and Russia, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera. The plan grew out of an idea Putin raised earlier this year.

The main subject, officials said, will be nuclear weapons. President Trump wants to open a conversation about reducing nuclear arsenals, and he is also expected to raise recent tensions involving Iran. Officials said the talks are not expected to cover the war in Ukraine, which the United States is handling on a separate track. They also played down hopes for any firm agreement, calling the meeting the beginning of a conversation rather than a deal-making session. Trump and Putin are not scheduled to hold a separate one-on-one meeting.

Separately, CBS News reported that President Trump is set to hold a bilateral meeting and working lunch with Xi on Thursday, November 19, the same day as the trilateral. It would be their fourth meeting since Trump returned to office, and officials said the three-way session is planned as the final event of his Asia trip.

As of the latest reports, China had not publicly confirmed the three-way format. Beijing has said in the past that it did not see a reason to join trilateral nuclear talks at this stage, pointing to the gap between its arsenal and those of the United States and Russia.

For readers at home, the meeting is worth watching because decisions about nuclear weapons touch global stability and, over time, the cost and tone of relations among these large economies. Whether the Shenzhen talks lead anywhere is an open question, but simply getting the three leaders in one room is being described as an unusual moment in world affairs.