Solís is an expert on Japanese foreign economic policy, international trade policy, and U.S. economic statecraft in Asia. She is the author of “Dilemmas of a Trading Nation: Japan and the United States in the Evolving Asia-Pacific Order” (Brookings, Press, 2017), recipient of the 2018 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Award. She also authored “Banking on Multinationals: Public Credit and the Export of Japanese Sunset Industries” (Stanford University Press, 2004) and co-edited “Cross-Regional Trade Agreements: Understanding Permeated Regionalism in East Asia” (Springer, 2008) and “Competitive Regionalism: FTA Diffusion in the Pacific Rim” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
Her most recent book, Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific (Brookings Press, September 2023) addresses the question of why and how Japan has emerged from the “lost decades” unscathed from the populist wave and a far more consequential actor in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. The book provides a sweeping look at Japan’s domestic economic and political evolution, its economic statecraft, and the array of geopolitical challenges that have triggered a gradual but substantial shift in the country’s security profile. This deep dive into Japan’s trajectory over the last three decades underscores Japan’s hidden strengths in its democratic resilience, social stability, and proactive diplomacy; while reckoning with the profound challenges the nation faces: depopulation, rising inequality, voter disengagement, and threats to Asia’s long peace.
Solís has offered expert commentary to The New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Politico, The New Yorker, Nikkei, Kyodo News, Asahi Shimbun, Jiji Press, Japan Times, NHK World, Bloomberg, CNN, and BBC, among others. Solís earned a doctorate in government and a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s in international relations from El Colegio de México.
This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Japan Research Program, and co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation, Center on Japanese Economy and Business, Columbia Business School, and the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program.