Riley Walters

Riley Walters is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute specializing in international economics and national security.

His areas of expertise include international trade policy, investment regulations, technology and innovation, cybersecurity, and the intersection of economics and national security. He is also an expert on east Asian political affairs, primarily focusing on Japan and Taiwan. 

Mr. Walters is also a senior non-resident fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute. Prior to joining Hudson, he was a senior policy analyst and economist in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation. Previously, he was a Penn Kemble fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy, a George C. Marshall fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a national security fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and a Kim Koo fellow with the Korea Society.

Mr. Walters is a prolific writer, contributing extensively to policy papers and media outlets including The Hill, Japan Times, Global Taiwan Brief, The Messenger, The Diplomat, the Washington Times, the National Interest, Geopolitical Intelligence Services, and others. Mr. Walters has also appeared extensively on domestic and international news, television, and radio services including TaiwanPlus, Nikkei Asia, Segye Daily, Al Jazeera, Radio Free Asia, Kyodo News, Politico, and more. 

Mr. Walters has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from George Mason University. He has previously lived in Japan, including one year living with strawberry farmers in Kumamoto prefecture and one year while studying at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is fluent in Japanese.