US President Donald Trump has expressed openness to entering three-way arms control discussions with the leaders of China and Russia as early as next month.
The potential talks raise the possibility of a historic summit and represent a high-stakes diplomatic move for the US president.
According to RTE, Trump told reporters outside of the White House that "we would have to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation."
"If President Xi wants to have it, I'd have it. I'm sure we'd talk about other things like trade too," he added.
As Russia and China forge closer ties, Donald Trump has sought to repair strained relations with both non-Western powers.
While a trilateral summit could spark anxiety among European and Asian allies concerned about side agreements undermining US transatlantic and Indo-Pacific alliances, a successful agreement could significantly ease global friction.
Resolving the war in Ukraine would address the gravest threat to European security in decades, while a three-way nuclear pact would bind the world’s three largest atomic superpowers.
In recent days, Donald Trump has moved to mend relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, securing a diesel fuel deal and signing an order to lift key sanctions on Moscow.
Trump has also pursued stable ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who continues to deepen his own alliance with Putin.
While Trump has yet to fulfill his campaign promise to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, White House officials have spent weeks discussing a potential leaders' meeting focused on denuclearization during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Putin later proposed leveraging the summit to negotiate an end to the four-year Ukraine conflict under terms favorable to Moscow.
