Trump open to idea of joint meeting with Xi, Putin next month

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he is open to three-way arms-control talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as next month. Trump told reporters the meeting would discuss nuclear weapons and denuclearization, and possibly trade. The White House has discussed a meeting on the sidelines of the November 18-19 APEC summit in China.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he is open to three-way arms-control talks with the leaders of China and Russia as soon as next month, raising the prospect of an unprecedented meeting. Trump told reporters outside the White House that the meeting would discuss nuclear weapons and denuclearization, and possibly trade. The White House has been discussing for weeks a possible meeting on the sidelines of the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China, according to a person familiar with the matter. Putin later pitched using such a meeting to negotiate an end to the four-year-old Ukraine conflict in a manner that would favor Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported. Trump has moved to warm ties with Russia, announcing a diesel-fuel deal and signing an order waiving key sanctions on Moscow. Trump has also sought stable relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China's foreign ministry said last week that its nuclear strength is not at the same level as the US and Russia and that it would be unfair to ask China to join trilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage. The article is a Reuters wire report, presenting the facts with attribution and no overt framing.