US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, November 8, that he thinks he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin together at the APEC leaders' summit in China later this month, and that the three would discuss ending the war in Iran and denuclearization, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

"One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that'll be interesting. We're talking a lot of things, including denuclearization, but we'll be talking a lot of things. We're trying to end the war in Iran," Trump told reporters before flying back to Washington from Florida, according to Reuters.

Trump confirmed he will travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which is set for November 18-19 in Shenzhen, the technology hub in southern China, with Xi hosting the leaders of the forum's 21 member economies.

Trump's remarks are the newest step in a story this site has followed since Beijing first confirmed the idea was alive: on November 4, China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing was in communication with the relevant parties about a meeting of the three heads of state on the sidelines of the Shenzhen summit, while the Kremlin said work to arrange it was under way. Read: China confirms talks on a Trump-Putin-Xi meeting at APEC

How the three-way idea took shape

The three leaders have met separately many times but have never held formal talks together, so a three-way sitting would be a first. In September, the Kremlin said Putin and Trump had discussed the possibility of a trilateral summit with Xi on the sidelines of APEC. In October, Trump said he was open to three-way arms control talks with Xi and Putin, which he said would focus on denuclearization.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Putin has pitched using a trilateral meeting to discuss an end to Russia's long-running war in Ukraine. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said Xi told him the three presidents would probably meet in Shenzhen, but not to discuss Ukraine, which Xi called a European conflict — a difference in the expected agenda that has not been resolved in public.

What is confirmed, and what is not

In a separate interview with CBS's 60 Minutes programme, Trump said, "I believe we're very close to making a deal" to end the Russia-Ukraine war, one that would result in a "little bit different shape Ukraine," without offering specifics, Reuters reported.

For readers in Canada, India and the Gulf, the stakes named by Trump himself are direct: an end to the US-Iran war would move oil prices, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the safety of the lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers based in Gulf states, while any movement on nuclear arms control between the world's three largest nuclear powers would reshape global security talks.