China hacked manufacturing group ahead of trade talks: Report
The hack was reportedly aimed at getting insight into President Trump's trade policy.
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The trade group National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) was compromised by Chinese hackers this past summer, Reuters reports.
NAM, which helped craft President Trump's trade agenda, hired a cybersecurity firm to look into the matter, according to Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter. It was determined that China was the culprit because of the tools and techniques that were used.
The extent of the hack is unknown.
"We recently identified suspicious activity relating to certain company systems, took swift action to secure our networks and quickly investigated the incident," Erin Streeter, senior vice president of communications and brand strategy, said in a statement.
"We have a number of robust security systems and measures in place to defend and protect our networks. Despite these measures, no one can guarantee that their cybersecurity systems and protocols will be successful 100% of the time against sophisticated cybercriminals. This incident highlights the unfortunate reality that we are all targets."
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The hack came ahead of a round of talks in U.S.-China trade negotiations, the report said, and may have been done to gain more insight into President Trump's trade policies.
The White House and Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
The U.S. has slapped tariffs on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods during the more than 16-month-long trade war between the world’s two economic superpowers. China has responded by placing duties on $160 billion of U.S. goods.
In October, the two sides announced they had reached a framework for phase one of a trade deal. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had hoped to sign a deal this week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile, but the event was canceled due to unrest in the country. Trade negotiators have not yet come to a consensus on the terms of a deal, and no date for a signing has been announced.
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Speaking at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, Trump said a deal "could happen soon," but warned he could raise tariffs "very substantially" if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.