Trump ouvert à une rencontre conjointe avec Xi, Poutine le mois prochain

US President Donald Trump stated on Monday that he is willing to hold a three-way meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping as soon as next month. The proposed summit would focus primarily on nuclear weapons and denuclearization, though Trump indicated that trade and other issues might also be addressed. This potential gathering represents an unprecedented diplomatic event, as the leaders of the United States, Russia, and China have never previously engaged in formal talks together. According to a person familiar with the matter, the White House has spent several weeks discussing a possible meeting centered on denuclearization on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for November 18 and 19 in China. Trump confirmed his openness to the arrangement while speaking to reporters outside the White House. He noted that if President Xi desired the meeting, he would proceed with it. While the primary agenda item would be nuclear disarmament, Trump added that he was certain they would discuss other topics, specifically mentioning trade. The initiative follows recent moves by Trump to improve relations with both Moscow and Beijing. In recent days, the US president announced a diesel fuel deal with Russia and signed an executive order on Friday waiving key sanctions against Moscow. These actions aim to thaw frosty relations with the two non-Western powers, which have grown closer to one another. However, critics argue that such bilateral warming could weaken Washington’s transatlantic and Indo-Pacific alliances. Conversely, proponents suggest that a successful tripartite agreement could lower global tensions. Ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would address the most significant threat to European security in decades, while an arms deal would bind the three nations possessing the largest nuclear stockpiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly pitched the idea of using such a meeting to negotiate an end to the four-year-old Ukraine conflict in a manner favorable to Moscow. This suggestion emerged during a phone call with Trump on October 9, which resulted in the diesel deal. The Kremlin acknowledged on Monday that the potential meeting had been discussed in talks. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, Putin viewed the summit as a vehicle for resolving the Ukrainian war. However, Trump downplayed the connection to Ukraine during his Monday remarks. He stated that he would pursue the meeting not primarily for Ukraine, asserting that Russia had been "fine" regarding the conflict. He further remarked that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not helping matters and that it was time for someone else to negotiate on Ukraine’s behalf. The prospect of a summit comes amid ongoing, albeit stalled, peace efforts. On Wednesday, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in St Petersburg. Following the approximately three-hour discussion at the Constantine Palace, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov announced that Putin had agreed in principle to resume three-way negotiations with Washington and Kyiv after November 10. The talks would focus on building a security system for Russia and Ukraine post-conflict. Ushakov described the proposals from a previous meeting in Oslo as containing little real value for resolving the crisis, though he later characterized them as a step in the right direction. Witkoff, accompanied by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Ushakov, discussed the situation with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who joined via video link. During the meeting, Witkoff and Kushner proposed a technical-level three-way meeting involving the US, Russia, and Ukraine. They also shared progress from Witkoff’s prior meeting with Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo. Witkoff thanked Putin for agreeing to send diesel to the US, noting the fuel would help reduce prices for American farmers and truckers. Putin expressed readiness to consider restoring US-Russia economic ties and discussed large-scale joint economic projects that are nearing implementation. He also offered to use Russia’s relationship with Tehran to help bring peace to the Middle East. Despite these diplomatic maneuvers, the war continues. Zelensky has insisted that only a summit of leaders can break the current impasse. In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Zelensky stated that freezing the conflict was the minimum requirement from Russia to end the war. He criticized Trump’s diesel deal and the waiver of sanctions, warning that these measures would embolden Putin and prolong the conflict. The White House, along with the Russian and Chinese embassies in Washington, did not respond to requests for comment regarding the specific timing and scope of the proposed trilateral summit. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video of a phone call with Trump on Tuesday. The clip aired ahead of closely fought elections in Israel on October 27. In the recording, Trump endorsed Netanyahu, predicting a "tremendous victory" and stating that he wanted Netanyahu by his side. Netanyahu praised Trump for joining Israel in attacks on Iran in February and declared that they had a job to finish together. The release highlighted the continued alignment between the two right-wing leaders amidst broader geopolitical shifts. The diplomatic landscape remains complex as the US seeks to balance relationships with its traditional allies and rival powers. While the US has attempted to stabilize ties with China and Russia, the lack of significant progress in ending the Ukraine war has persisted since the start of the current administration’s efforts. The upcoming APEC summit in Shenzhen offers a potential platform for these high-stakes negotiations, though the Chinese government has not yet expressed willingness to host such a summit. Observers will watch closely to see if the proposed denuclearization talks translate into tangible agreements or remain a rhetorical gesture.