Trump floats a three-way nuclear summit with Xi and Putin as Moscow pushes for a meeting

President Donald Trump is hinting at an overseas “denuclearization” summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping². He said he was open to holding three-way nuclear talks with the two leaders⁴, signalling a willingness to join a trilateral meeting focused on a nuclear agreement⁵.

Trump said he was meeting with Xi “on nuclear disarmament”¹. He also said a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin would be set up soon¹.

Moscow has been pressing the idea. Putin wants Trump and Xi to meet with him on the rim of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen⁶. A Putin aide said Moscow, Washington and Beijing are already ready to hold the meeting⁸, and Putin’s aide Ushakov maintained on 22 October that the trilateral dialogue would go ahead⁷.

Why it matters to investors

A meeting of the three leaders would bring the US, China and Russia to one table at a time when the Ukraine war and the Iran war are both unresolved¹. Any agreement on arms control, or on the war in Ukraine, would bear on sanctions, defence spending and energy markets.

Expectations are low. Major results should not be expected from such a meeting, if it happens at all². China has become more tight-lipped as rumours of the talks have grown⁷, which leaves the summit’s agenda and timing unclear.

The three capitals do not appear to want the same thing. Xi wants to play peacemaker, while Trump has other ideas for a historic summit³. Russia has framed the meeting around the war in Ukraine⁶, while Trump has framed it around nuclear disarmament^1,4. Sweden’s prime minister has separately expressed doubts about the effectiveness of European efforts⁸, a sign that Europe’s own role in any settlement remains uncertain.

What to watch

The first marker is whether the APEC gathering in Shenzhen becomes the venue Putin has proposed⁶, and whether Beijing confirms any role⁷.

The second is the agenda. A summit centred on nuclear disarmament¹ would differ sharply from one centred on Ukraine⁶, and the difference matters for which sanctions and trade measures could be discussed.

The third is whether the separate meeting with Zelenskyy and Putin that Trump says will be set up soon¹ takes place first, and how Moscow’s claim that all three capitals are ready⁸ holds up.