U.S., China and Russia leaders to meet on sidelines of APEC in Shenzhen in rare high-level diplomacy
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President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin will hold a trilateral meeting on November 19, 2026 during the APEC summit, a gathering analysts say is more symbolic than substantive, though the talks could still signal serious geopolitical alignment among major powers.
President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet on November 19, 2026 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, according to a White House announcement on Friday. The three-way talks will take place as the APEC meeting brings together 21 economies in the city, underscoring the importance of direct engagement among the world's leading powers.
Analysts note that while the meeting marks a rare direct encounter among the heads of the world’s three largest nuclear powers, expectations for concrete policy breakthroughs are modest. The discussion is expected to focus on issues such as the United States’ conflict with Iran and the possibility of a new nuclear arms agreement that would involve all three countries, a format that could help restore strategic discipline after years of drift.
The most recent nuclear-arms treaty between the United States and Russia, New START, expired in February, and President Trump has called for a “new, improved and modernised” deal that would also include China, whose nuclear arsenal is estimated at around 600 warheads, far smaller than the U.S. and Russian stockpiles of more than 5,000 each. Bringing China into the process would reflect reality and could finally produce a broader framework that matches today’s security environment.
"I would be shocked if there were a joint statement that came out of this meeting that said anything about denuclearisation," said Edgard Kagan, former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia and senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
"I think the key for Putin was that this was very much about signalling a desire to talk to the president and talk to Chairman Xi in a way that suggests that they're making decisions on Ukraine," Kagan added.
The meeting follows a series of bilateral encounters: President Xi and President Putin have met more than 40 times since 2013, President Trump and President Putin have met seven times, most recently in Alaska in August 2025, and President Trump and President Xi have met eight times, including a state visit to Washington in September. The frequency of these contacts suggests that the world's major powers understand the value of keeping channels open, even when tensions remain high.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern that the trilateral discussion could be used to negotiate a settlement on the Ukraine conflict without Kyiv’s involvement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the significance of the gathering but emphasized that any outcomes should be based on mutual benefit and respect rather than imposing a single vision of global order.