China-Linked APT41 Hackers Target U.S. Trade Officials Amid 2025 Negotiations

According to The House Select Committee on China, an advisory warning has been issued about an ongoing series of highly targeted cyber espionage campaigns linked to the PRC amid US–China trade talks. The committee says these campaigns aim to compromise organisations and individuals involved in US trade policy and diplomacy, including US government agencies, business organisations, DC law firms and think tanks, and at least one foreign government.

It notes that threat actors impersonated Republican Congressman John Robert Moolenaar in phishing emails designed to trick recipients into opening files and links that would grant unauthorised access to systems. The end goal, the committee adds, is to steal valuable data by abusing software and cloud services to cover their tracks, a tactic associated with state‑sponsored hackers. The attack is attributed as the work of APT41, a group known for its cyber espionage across diverse sectors and geographies.