Trump to meet with Putin and Xi in China next week, US officials say
President Donald Trump will participate in the first-ever trilateral meeting between the leaders of the U.S., China and Russia on the sidelines at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in China next week, senior U.S. officials told reporters Friday evening.
Trump is expected to discuss Iran with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the officials said, but he does not intend to discuss Russia's war with Ukraine during the trilateral meeting.
Denuclearization will be the focus of the long-awaited trilateral meeting, though officials do not anticipate the leaders reaching any concrete agreement and are characterizing this meeting as an initial conversation broaching the subject.
Trump had been teasing a potential face-to-face meeting with the world's leading nuclear superpowers for some time. On Oct. 19, Trump told ABC News that he would like to meet with Putin and Xi when he visits China, saying, "I would do that," and indicated a desire to discuss denuclearization.
Trump and Xi will meet ahead of their meeting with Putin but Trump and Putin will not be meeting one-on-one separately, the officials said.
Billionaire Elon Musk will be joining Trump for parts of his China travels, the officials said, but did not specify Musk's reason for accompanying the president, merely pointing to his business interests in China.
An official said some additional U.S. business leaders are expected to attend the APEC CEO Summit but clarified that they are not part of the U.S. delegation.
Trump's trip to Shenzhen, China, for the APEC Summit will be his second trip to China this year, as well and his third meeting with Xi. Before the China leg of the trip, Trump will be in Manila for the ASEAN Summit.
There are no plans for a meeting with North Korea's Kim Jung Un while Trump is in Asia, an official added.
Will Nvidia controversy come up?
The senior U.S. officials said they do not expect the Nvidia controversy of this week to have any impact on the president's trip or his planned meetings after former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned from the tech company over concerns that he had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
Officials said they don't expect Trump to raise with Xi the allegations against Alice Huang, a Chinese national and tech executive at Megaspeed who is accused of being a Chinese spy, adding that the two presidents plan to focus on implementing aspects of their trade agreement.
"You know, I think when it comes to some of these national security matters and examinations and investigations that are going on in the U.S., it's probably not something that we're going to read the Chinese in on at this moment," a senior U.S. official said.
Trump's travel schedule
Trump will depart from the White House on Monday morning en route to Manila, where he will participate in a series of multilateral meetings about peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region, the officials said. The president is also expected to sign a trade deal with Thailand, they added.
While in the Philippines, Trump will participate in a welcome ceremony and state visit with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., followed by a bilateral meeting. Trump is expected to secure "commercial deals and strategic investments" during his two-day visit to the Philippines, officials said.
Trump will then travel to Shenzhen, where he will participate in an APEC leaders' dinner and multilateral meeting with the APEC leaders. On Thursday afternoon, Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting and working lunch with Xi.
The Trump-Xi-Putin meeting will be the final event on the president's Asia trip.
