Three-way summit with Putin, Trump and Xi – why Handelsblatt calls it a nightmare for Europe

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Three-way summit with Putin, Trump and Xi – why Handelsblatt calls it a nightmare for Europe.

Stell dir vor: Putin, Trump und Xi – three heads of state at one table, all three talking about the future of Ukraine. European representatives? Absent. That is precisely the scenario the Handelsblatt paints in a commentary and labels a "nightmare for Europe."

The business newspaper writes: Vladimir Putin apparently wants to negotiate with the USA and China about an end to the Ukraine war. On the table, according to the report, is a three-way summit between Trump, Xi and Putin – with no European participation at the table.

For you as a reader in Europe, this means: the security of your continent may be decided between Washington, Beijing and Moscow – without you or your elected representatives having a seat at the table.

Vladimir Putin apparently wants to negotiate with the USA and China about an end to the Ukraine war. For Europe, such a summit would be fatal – it would leave only two conclusions possible.

What the commentary is about

Handelsblatt frames Putin's move as a three-way summit with Trump, Xi and Putin – without European participation at the table. The commentary argues that such a summit "leaves only two conclusions possible." Which ones in detail does not emerge from the available excerpt.

Why this would be fatal for Europe

Handelsblatt sees the scenario as a "nightmare for Europe." The core of the concern: if a solution were negotiated between the three powers, Europe would have to go along with it – without having negotiated itself. Handelsblatt makes clear that such a format sidelines the European voice.

What this means for you

Even if the summit is still a future prospect, the mere discussion of it is already shifting the political debate. If in the end a settlement is reached without European participation, it would be a decision about security, alliances and the future of Ukraine – made without you. Handelsblatt frames exactly this constellation as "fatal," pointing to the direction in which Brussels would have to look after such a meeting.