The assessment is 'likely_true' with high confidence based on strong, consistent evidence from multiple sources. A highly authoritative source, The Guardian, directly attributes the statement "China-US trade deal could be signed next week" to the U.S. Treasury Secretary. This is corroborated by another source, a news aggregator, which contains the exact same quote and attribution. While the aggregator has lower authority, the consistency of the reporting across two separate outlets strengthens the claim's credibility. Another news article discusses the potential for a deal next week, providing contextual support for the timeline, even though it doesn't attribute the statement to the Secretary. The official transcripts from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not relevant enough to confirm or deny the statement, as they do not contain the specific remarks in question. Crucially, there is no conflicting evidence among the provided sources; no source contradicts the claim that the Treasury Secretary made this statement. The direct attribution from a reputable, high-authority news organization is the primary driver of this high-confidence assessment.