Trump to Meet Leaders of China and Russia Next Week

US President Donald Trump has indicated that he may hold a rare trilateral leaders' meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. This important meeting will take place under the framework of the APEC summit to be held in Shenzhen, South China. China stated on Monday, November 9, 2026, that it is in talks with the relevant parties regarding this visit and has not ruled out this possibility. The APEC summit is scheduled to be held on November 18 and 19.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, November 8, 2026, Trump indicated that topics such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Iran issue, and the control of nuclear weapons will remain on the agenda for this discussion. According to Trump, a meeting will take place with Putin and Xi which will be very interesting. He further added that they are talking about several matters including the elimination of nuclear weapons and they are trying to bring an end to the war in Iran. Following these statements by Trump, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated on Monday that China is in touch with the relevant parties regarding this trilateral meeting.

Trump and Xi Jinping will also hold a bilateral meeting next week for the third time this year. This meeting is taking place following the US President's visit to Beijing in May earlier and the Chinese President's visit to Washington in September, 2026. In addition to this, they will meet again at the G20 summit to be held in Miami at the end of the year, which means they will have four meetings during this year, which is an unusual matter.

Both the US and China are trying to bring more stability to the relations between the two and maintain 'constructive relations of strategic stability'. However, disputes between the two countries also continue on issues such as trade tariffs, restrictions on semiconductors, rare earth engineering, and Taiwan. Su Liuliuquang, a scholar at the Center for American Studies of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, stated that among these three countries, Russia was the most enthusiastic about this meeting. He also said in a conversation with the media that this is more likely to be an informal meeting rather than a formal trilateral summit.

Referring to the anti-Russia sentiment in the US and the opposition from European allies, Su Liuliuquang said that there are significant political obstacles against negotiating with Moscow while sidelining Ukraine and Europe. He further explained that the priorities of all three countries are different. Russia's main focus is on ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine, the US is interested in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and nuclear non-proliferation, while China supports peace negotiations but has to maintain a balance among its relations with the US, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine. In this context, a low-profile trilateral meeting is a more realistic option. This visit can yield practical results such as stabilizing the global energy supply.

China prefers 'multilateralism' rather than the idea of 'G-2' or a trilateral group of the US-China-Russia. Even so, according to Su Liuliuquang, such a visit indicates that even though the competition between major powers will continue to define global geopolitics, it also shows a growing interest to manage that competition and prevent it from getting out of control.

Donald Trump is the President of the US. He has played an active role in global politics and international relations earlier as well.