Trump pressed Xi to use Chinese leverage to restart Ukraine-Russia peace talks, SCMP reports

US President Donald Trump pressed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to use Beijing's leverage over Moscow to restart stalled Ukraine-Russia-US negotiations during their summit last month, the South China Morning Post reported on 1 June, citing multiple people familiar with the talks.

Trump told Xi that Russia–Ukraine negotiations had collapsed and urged him to bring Vladimir Putin back to the table to deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the SCMP. Washington was also "not happy" with Beijing's recent tightening of rare earth export controls, the outlet reported. The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington both declined to comment.

The Financial Times reported that during the same summit, Xi told Trump that Putin "could come to regret" the invasion — the first time the Chinese leader is known to have offered a US president an assessment of Putin personally or of the war itself. A source familiar with Xi's meetings with former president Joe Biden told the FT those talks had been "frank and direct" on Russia and Ukraine but contained no such judgment.

The timing was pointed. Xi hosted Trump on 12–13 May, then welcomed Putin to Beijing on 19 May for a summit marking 25 years since Jiang Zemin signed the Sino-Russian friendship treaty. Trump also proposed during the meeting that the United States, China, and Russia join forces against the International Criminal Court, the FT reported. A White House factsheet published after the summit on 18 May made no reference to either the Putin discussion or Ukraine.

The summit unfolded against rare Ukrainian gains. Ukraine has regained more territory in recent months than it had ceded in years, and a senior Ukrainian commander told Reuters last week that the Russian army was "exhausted and incapable of making breakthroughs." Russia answered with a massive aerial strike last month — 600 drones and 90 missiles, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile. On Tuesday, June 2, a major Russian barrage killed at least 12 and wounded over 100 after dozens of missiles and over 600 drones were launched across Ukraine.

Direct peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have remained frozen since negotiations in Turkey collapsed in July 2025 without producing a ceasefire agreement. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 22 that Washington is still prepared to play a mediating role but acknowledged that current peace talks have produced no results.