Trump to hold high-stakes meetings with Putin, Xi in China, rules out Kim Jong Un talks
U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in China next week, while there are no plans for him to engage with North Korea during his upcoming Asia trip, foreign media reports said Friday, Yonhap reports.
Trump will meet Xi and Putin on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, Yonhap cites a White House spokeswoman.
The planned meeting comes as Trump seeks a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, while Washington and Beijing continue to navigate differences over trade, tariffs and other geopolitical issues.
Separately, it was reported that a U.S. official said there were no plans for Trump to engage with North Korea during his trip to Asia next week, amid speculation over the possibility of renewed diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in engaging with Kim Jong Un again, citing their "good" personal relationship, fueling speculation about a possible meeting during the president's planned visit to China this month.
The two leaders had three in-person meetings during Trump's first term: the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom.
Earlier, it was reported that Trump had put the Oval Office under new preservation rules.