WASHINGTON — The leaders of the United States, China and Russia plan to meet Thursday on the sidelines of next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China’s tech hub of Shenzhen — an unprecedented gathering of the heads of the world’s biggest nuclear powers.
\n\nWhile the leaders gathering for joint talks will mark a singular moment, analysts say expectations are low that the talks will lead to major breakthroughs and say they will be heavier in symbolism than substance.
\n\nPlans for the three-way summit with Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were confirmed on Friday by the White House. It comes at a complicated moment in relations between the three countries.
\n\nTrump has warmly embraced Xi after coming to a truce in their short-lived trade war last year and in spite of differences over the U.S. war with Iran and other tensions between the world’s foremost economic powers.
\n\nSimilarly, Trump has sought to build his relationship with Putin, even as the Russian leader has persisted in his nearly 5-year-old war with Ukraine and as Moscow has deepened its military, intelligence and diplomatic partnership with Iran.
\n\nThe U.S. president has insisted that such a meeting would provide an opportunity for…
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