Trump Backs Possible Meeting With Xi and Putin on Nuclear Weapons

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 19 that he was open to holding a trilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss denuclearization.

Moscow earlier that day proposed a meeting among the three leaders, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying talks could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for next month in Shenzhen, China.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said he would be interested in meeting with Putin and Xi to discuss nuclear arms reductions.

“I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine. Because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much. And the same thing with China,” Trump said.

“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization. If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it. I’m sure we’d talk about other things like trade too.”

Trump has previously called for a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia following the Feb. 5 expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia that had been enforced since February 2011.

The president told Newsmax last week that he was discussing denuclearization with both Xi and Putin, but noted that China might be less willing to pursue it because its nuclear arsenal is smaller than those of the United States and Russia. He warned that China could catch up with the U.S. nuclear stockpile within the next five years.

Peskov said on Monday that no specific proposals or agreements had been raised yet regarding the proposed meeting or what it might cover. He acknowledged that Washington’s mediation efforts to end the war in Ukraine remained ongoing.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X that any trilateral meeting aimed at ending the Russia–Ukraine war should involve Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy rather than the Chinese leader.

“A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the US, and Russia could help end the war sooner. A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the US would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war,” he said.

“By any pragmatic or moral measure, Putin has no place at the table with presidents Trump and Xi.”

Trump suggested on Monday that he would be willing to hold talks on ending the Russia–Ukraine war without Zelenskyy’s participation.

“Anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not. Whatever I can do to end the war,” Trump told reporters, adding that he thinks “it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.”

Trump has previously said that he had reached an agreement with Putin for Russia to supply diesel to the United States in exchange for a temporary lifting of sanctions against Moscow.

In an Oct. 9 Truth Social post, Trump said Russia would supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global marketplace, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and another 1 million tons expected thereafter.