US President Barack Obama geared up Saturday for whirlwind meetings next week with counterparts from China, Japan and Russia, but Iran's firebrand leader looked set to be left out in the cold.
As world leaders converge on New York for the annual United Nations general assembly, officials said Obama would kick off a flurry of high-profile bilateral encounters by meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday.
With the G20 summit of leading economies to follow in Pittsburgh later in the week and Obama due to make his first visit to China as president in November, they will look to resolve a simmering trade row.
The United States last week slapped punitive tariffs of an additional 35 percent on Chinese-made tire imports, prompting Beijing to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Beijing says Washington's move violated WTO rules and has warned it will damage trade relations, but the United States has denied it amounted to protectionism.