Trump, Putin and Xi to hold first trilateral meeting at China summit, officials say

President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sit down together for the first three-way meeting of its kind at a summit in China next week, the White House said Friday.

The talks are scheduled for Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told reporters. She said Mr. Trump intends to press the case for reducing nuclear arsenals during the trilateral session. "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," Wales said.

Mr. Trump is also expected to raise the war in Iran during the meeting, according to U.S. officials. "I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin," a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a call.

One subject that will not feature is Russia's war in Ukraine, officials said. The senior official explained that Washington maintains a "whole other track" of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow aimed at ending that conflict, pointing to talks U.S. envoys have held in recent days with both 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.

Alongside the trilateral, Mr. Trump will hold a bilateral working lunch and meeting with Xi on Thursday. It will be their fourth encounter since the president's return to power last year.

Officials also said the United States does not plan to discuss export controls on sensitive chip technology, the issue at the heart of the Nvidia scandal. "We do not negotiate American export controls. These are national security matters that we develop in the administration.. and we don't expect it to figure at all in any of our conversations with the Chinese while we're there," a second official said.

Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk will travel with Mr. Trump to China but will not take part in the meeting with Xi and Putin, according to the officials.

Mr. Trump is due to leave Washington on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations before continuing on to Shenzhen.