• First three-way summit set for Thursday on Apec sidelines in Shenzhen
• Iran war makes the agenda; Ukraine talks stay on a separate track
• Musk to join US president on China trip

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will raise nuclear-arms reduction next week at the first three-way meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, the White House said on Friday.

The leaders will meet on Thursday (Nov 19) on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the southern Chinese city.

“The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world. This proliferation, President Trump believes, is very dangerous,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told reporters on a call.

Trump’s insistence on focusing the first-of-its-kind talks on nuclear arms has riled Beijing, which is hosting a summit centred on trade and commerce.

China has resisted direct engagement with Washington on its nuclear programme, arguing it is more appropriate for the US and Russia to negotiate directly given their larger stockpiles.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between Washington and Moscow expired this year.

A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US does not expect to reach an agreement in Shenzhen.

“This is a difficult topic for China to address, but we do think it’s time for China to sort of step up, you know, to the adults’ table, if you will, and have adult conversations about adult things,” the official said, calling it “the beginning of hopefully a conversation that can be productive going forward”.

Although nuclear weapons top the agenda, one major global conflict will also feature in the trilateral talks, while another will not, US officials said. Trump intends to discuss the US-Israeli war against Iran, but he is not expected to raise Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Washington has a “whole other track” of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict, the senior official said, noting recent talks between US envoys, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn’t seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there,” the official added.

Still, Zelensky has raised the alarm that the Shenzhen summit could echo the 1945 Yalta conference and result in a “redistribution of spheres of influence” for the 21st century.

Beyond the trilateral talks, Trump will hold a bilateral working lunch with Xi on Thursday, though he is not scheduled for a separate one-on-one with Putin or a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Officials also downplayed other potential flashpoints, with a second senior US official saying export controls on sensitive chip technology and former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy are not expected to come up.

Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk will accompany Trump on the four-day Asia trip — starting Monday in the Philippines for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit — but will not attend the meeting with Xi and Putin.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2026