Trump, Xi and Putin Are Heading for a First-Ever Three-Way Sit-Down

The White House announced Friday that President Trump will meet next week with China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, in what's being described as the first time the three leaders have sat down together. The official focus is nuclear non-proliferation, and Iran is also on the list. Whether the war in Ukraine comes up is still unclear.

The timing says a lot. The last nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia expired in February, so nothing is binding the two biggest arsenals right now. China, meanwhile, has been quickly building up its own stockpile. Officials are already lowering expectations, calling this more of a starting point than a place to sign anything big.

There's pushback at home too. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has accused Trump of ignoring a federal law meant to squeeze Russia's economy over the Ukraine war. And NATO allies say China, which calls itself neutral, has supplied Moscow with equipment and technology that help its war effort. That's the awkward backdrop for a meeting where Beijing may be pitched as a peacemaker.

It lands in a busy week for diplomacy. This week's first US-mediated Russia–Ukraine talks in nine months, held in Abu Dhabi, wrapped with no major breakthrough, and Trump has said he's holding off on new military action against Iran after appeals from Gulf allies, even as US forces keep building up in the region.