Trump to Meet Xi and Putin in China Next Week, White House Says

President Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in China next week, a White House spokesperson said Friday, according to Reuters. NBC News called it, in a post on X, an unprecedented summit of the world’s biggest nuclear powers.

The three leaders are set to meet Nov. 19 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which Xi is hosting Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, according to Bloomberg Law.

BREAKING: Trump, Xi and Putin to meet in China next week — an unprecedented summit of the world’s biggest nuclear powers. https://t.co/ZBtaixJARt

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 14, 2026

Nuclear weapons and Iran on the agenda

“The President has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world, whose proliferation President Trump believes is very dangerous,” Assistant White House Press Secretary Olivia Wales told reporters on a call, according to Anadolu Agency.

Trump will also hold a bilateral meeting and working lunch with Xi on Thursday afternoon before wrapping up his China visit with the three-way meeting, Wales said, according to Anadolu.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington does not expect an agreement to come out of the talks, Anadolu reported. “I would characterize this as the entry point, the first conversation, certainly at the leader level between these countries,” the official said, according to Anadolu.

“We do not expect to get to any kind of agreement,” a U.S. official said, according to Reuters.

The official said China’s nuclear arsenal is “growing by far the fastest in the world” and argued it was time for Beijing to “step up to the adult table,” Anadolu reported.

Trump plans to discuss Iran at the meeting but not Ukraine, the official said, because China is not part of the separate U.S.-Russia track, according to Anadolu. The Associated Press also reported in a post on X that Trump does not plan to discuss Ukraine with Xi and Putin but will talk about the Iran war, citing a U.S. official.

What is off the table

Trump is not expected to raise the case of suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang, who was alleged to have been in a relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, a U.S. official said, according to Reuters. There are also no plans for Trump to engage with North Korea during the trip, Reuters reported.

A tough sell in Beijing

Trump has previously said a three-way meeting would focus on denuclearization, which Bloomberg Law described as an unlikely prospect given China’s reluctance to discuss limits on its nuclear stockpile with the U.S. and Russia, both of which have much larger arsenals.

Before the White House announcement, China had not confirmed the meeting, though a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said Beijing was “in communication” with the relevant parties and a Kremlin representative said “coordination” was underway, according to Deutsche Welle.

Trump told reporters earlier this month that one of his meetings would likely be with Putin and Xi, DW reported. Asked about it, he raised Iran and denuclearization as possible topics and did not mention Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to DW.

Reporting by Daily Beltway.