China's top trade negotiator Li says trade talks are not bad and that talks will be continued on Monday among the working group, while confirms that both sides discuss AI along with trade and investment

Characterisations of talks as constructive from a lead negotiator, paired with a confirmed next session, follow the established rhythm of US-China trade rounds: progress is signalled through scheduling and tone rather than substance, and working-level continuation has historically been the tell that a principals-level outcome is being prepared rather than that one has been reached. The inclusion of AI alongside trade and investment is the more notable element; technology controls and export restrictions have sat in a separate, security-framed track in prior rounds, and folding them into the trade agenda signals a broader bargaining scope, which has tended to lengthen negotiations while widening the set of possible deliverables. Statements of this kind have typically supported China-exposed risk, the offshore yuan, and the regional equity complex, but the pattern across comparable episodes is that such moves fade without a concrete communiqué, and the yuan has been the cleaner barometer of genuine momentum than headline equities. What separates signal from noise in this format is specificity: named working-group topics and firm dates carry more weight than warm adjectives. The follow-ons are any joint statement or readout after the Monday session, and whether the US side's characterisation matches Beijing's, since asymmetric readouts have repeatedly preceded stalls in past rounds.