SHENZHEN, China — The proposed first-ever three-way summit of US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin is at risk of unravelling before it begins, with Washington and Beijing at odds over the meeting's format and objectives, according to people familiar with the matter cited in Wall Street Journal reporting published on Monday. China is demanding scripted statements and a predetermined outcome, the reporting said, while the Trump administration is pressing for open discussions.
Source: Wall Street Journal reporting, via ROIC News, Nov 9 2026
The format clash is a new development on the summit plan this site reported on November 8, when Trump said he expected to meet Xi and Putin together at the APEC summit and named denuclearization and ending the Iran war as his topics. Read the earlier story: Trump says he expects a three-way meeting with Xi and Putin at Shenzhen APEC
The meeting would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Shenzhen on November 18–19. Trump told reporters on November 8: "One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi" — wording that remained tentative, with no final arrangement announced. Beijing has acknowledged discussions but has not confirmed the summit: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was "in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on November 8 that the three capitals were exchanging proposals on the agenda and that some topics were very important for one side while unacceptable for another, according to reporting of his remarks; presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the parties would first have to reach a compromise on the agenda for the summit to take place. Peskov had said on November 3 that Moscow hoped arrangements would be finalised within days, and identified China, as host, as the main organiser.
Source: Zamin.uz, citing WSJ and Kremlin statements, Nov 10 2026
The nuclear sticking point
The core obstacle is substantive, not just protocol. Trump wants nuclear arms control on the table and has said China must be included in a new treaty — a position he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have stated openly — but Beijing remains reluctant to negotiate limits on its growing arsenal. China's Foreign Ministry has previously called demands for trilateral nuclear-disarmament talks "neither fair, reasonable nor realistic," arguing its nuclear forces are not comparable in scale to those of the US and Russia. The last US-Russia strategic arms treaty, New START, expired on February 5, 2026. Putin, for his part, has proposed discussing Ukraine; Trump has also named ending the Iran war as a priority.
Trump has offered no specifics on what his "denuclearization" push would cover — no proposed arsenal ceilings, verification arrangements or negotiating timetable have been announced. The Arms Control Association has argued that Trump's stated ambitions require more than "statements and wishful thinking." Analysts quoted by the Associated Press suggest Putin could gain diplomatic visibility even without a substantive agreement, while Beijing would reinforce its standing as a central global power.
If an agenda cannot be agreed in advance, China has indicated it may prefer separate bilateral meetings, according to the people familiar with the matter — a fallback that would still let Xi meet both leaders individually but would deny Trump the three-way meeting he has publicly trailed. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the format dispute, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond.
What happens next: with eight days to the APEC summit, the three capitals must first compromise on an agenda — the condition Ushakov named — before any trilateral can be confirmed. Whether Shenzhen produces a first-ever three-way summit, a set of bilateral meetings, or no leaders' encounter at all will be decided by that agenda fight, not by the public expectations Trump set on November 8.