Trump Agrees to Three-Way Summit with Putin and Xi — SkimNews
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- Vladimir Putin proposed a Trump-Putin-Xi summit during an October 9 phone call where the two also agreed on a U.S. purchase of Russian diesel, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Donald Trump agreed to attend the proposed November 18-19 meeting in Shenzhen, describing Xi Jinping's stance on the Ukraine war as 'very fair.'
- The Kremlin has confirmed the talks, and Beijing has signaled it would not object to such a meeting.
- Ukraine's foreign minister warned that a Russia-China-U.S. summit would encourage Putin to continue fighting, with critics drawing parallels to the Yalta conference.
- The analysis argues the summit's geometry would place Xi, not Trump, at the apex, as the host and convener of two closer partners, with the U.S. as the 'odd man out.'
- A realist counter-proposal outlined in the source suggests a Trump-Putin-Zelensky meeting is a better format, with China in a guarantor role, not as arbiter of European security.
Why it matters: The summit would formally position China as the pivotal power in negotiations to end the Ukraine war, a role Europe and Ukraine would be excluded from. For the U.S., it risks entangling European security with concessions on Taiwan or tech controls, surrendering leverage before talks even begin.
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