Hudson Institute Events Podcast

Supply chains have been central to the second Trump administration’s foreign and national security policy platforms. As global security deteriorates, policymakers need to act quickly to ensure American manufacturers can access materials that are vital for national defense and economic resilience.

At the heart of this effort is the United States government’s drive, in collaboration with private industry, to develop domestic critical mineral supply chains. China’s near monopoly on critical mineral processing gives Beijing the ability to influence trade negotiations and exercise economic coercion. Through these unfair trade practices, China seeks to further weaken Americ...

The end of Nicolás Maduro’s rule marked a historic turning point for Venezuela. But transitions do not secure themselves. Authoritarian systems often attempt to survive through controlled reform and partial concessions.

Venezuela’s interim authorities have introduced initial measures, including an amnesty law and economic adjustments. Yet a genuine democratic transition requires structural guarantees: the full release of political prisoners, the dismantling of repression, the reopening of civic space, the safe return of political exiles, and the establishment of a new, independent electoral authority capable of organizing free and fair general elections.

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More than three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has sought to offset Western sanctions and isolation by deepening ties with China and expanding relationships with partners such as North Korea and Iran. Beijing, meanwhile, views cooperation with Russia as a strategic asset in its competition with the United States and its allies across Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Though the Sino-Russian partnership is asymmetric, increasingly coordinated military, energy, economic, and information cooperation is reshaping the security environment.

Hudson will host an event featuring representatives from the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) and the Alliance Fu...

Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East will host Sir Liam Fox for a conversation on the evolving geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. Drawing on his experience as the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for defense and international trade and his leadership in advancing regional normalization efforts, Sir Liam will offer insights into the future of regional security, the strategic implications of the Abraham Accords, and the expanding diplomatic and economic ties between Morocco and Israel. The discussion will also explore how trade, diplomacy, and strategic cooperation can shape a more stable and in...

Africa’s most populous country unexpectedly found itself in President Donald Trump’s sights this past autumn. The president designated Nigeria a country of particular concern for alleged religious freedom violations and warned of possible United States military intervention to protect Nigerian Christians.

But what appeared to be a tense diplomatic standoff quickly led to discussions of a new security partnership that has so far seen a US airstrike on jihadists and now the deployment of US military trainers to Nigeria.

Will this security cooperation be the new normal for US-Nigeria relations, or will Trump esca...

The alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States remains the cornerstone of transatlantic security. But regulatory and trade frictions, differing approaches to China, and divergent views on migration have strained this vital relationship.

In his “Iron Curtain” address 80 years ago, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned of the threat that Soviet domination of Eastern Europe posed to the rest of the world. Today, the world’s free nations once again face a profound danger, this time from a coalescing authoritarian axis. The United Kingdom and United States need to stand firmly together to meet this joint...

On August 8, 2025, President Donald Trump hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House for a historic peace summit, the first trilateral meeting of its kind since the end of the Cold War. The two leaders initialed a peace agreement, signed a joint declaration affirming their commitment to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity, and announced the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a United States–developed transit corridor that will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia while anchoring American investment and presence in the region for decades to come.

On February 12, officials from the United States and Taiwan signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), a trade deal that “reflects both sides’ ambition to increase bilateral investment and commercial opportunities.”

The deal removes significant tariff and non-tariff barriers, accelerates bilateral trade through an increase of sales of US goods to Taiwan, and expands on an investment deal announced a month ago in which Taipei committed to funding and financing up to $500 billion in new investment in the United States.

Join Hudson for an expert panel on why these deals are so important for both nation...

The Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East will host a fireside chat between Israeli Minister of Economic Affairs Noach Hacker and Dr. Michael Doran. They will examine the economic foundations of the United States–Israel partnership and its growing importance to American prosperity and competitiveness.

Expanding on Hudson’s recent policy memo on US-Israel economic cooperation, the discussion will also explore Israel’s technical edge and how collaboration in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other emerging technologies delivers tangible returns for the United States.

For decades the United States’ partnership with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has been a crucial component of American policy in the Middle East. Today the Middle East holds unprecedented economic opportunities for the US and its regional allies. But the region is also wracked by potential conflicts—especially tensions between the United States and Iran and a fragile truce in eastern Syria. Against this uncertain backdrop, Iraqis are immersed in a complicated, high-stakes government formation process in both Baghdad and Erbil. How will these dynamics shape the future of the US-KRI partnership? What are the most significant oppo...

On February 5, 2026, the United States’ last bilateral nuclear arms control agreement with Russia, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), expired after 14 years. Russia had been violating the terms of the agreement since 2023.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s commitment that “future arms control must address not one, but both nuclear peer arsenals.” Rubio also said that even as the United States remains open to diplomacy, it will maintain a “robust, credible, and modernized nuclear deterrent.”

Join Senior Fellow Dr. Rebeccah Heinrichs and Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and...

Nuclear fusion has held the secret to nearly limitless clean energy since its discovery almost a century ago. Yet scientists around the world, particularly in the United States and China, are only now getting close to making this method of energy generation a reality. Rising US-China competition has further accelerated research and development in this now-critical economic and security technology.

To examine the future of fusion and its geopolitical implications, Hudson will host a two-part event. The first expert panel will focus on fusion and its relationship to the US nuclear deterrent. The second panel will examine ho...

The first Trump administration warned Americans that depending on foreign manufacturing had eroded the United States’ industrial base over the previous 30 years. Both parties now recognize the danger of US supply chains relying on China—a dependence that includes common consumer goods and extends to critical inputs for US military systems. Fortunately, the second Trump administration is continuing to rebuild the US defense industrial base and restore American manufacturing. The Department of War is a primary driver of this effort.

Join Hudson for a conversation with Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi, who lead...

Hudson welcomes French Army Chief of Staff General Pierre Schill, one of Europe’s most senior military leaders, for a discussion on the evolving strategic environment and the French Army’s transformation in a rapidly changing world.

General Schill will discuss:

President Donald Trump has opened his second term with several major foreign policy moves: targeted strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, sweeping trade negotiations and tariff regimes, a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan, and a landmark North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in The Hague. All these underscore the president’s emphasis on proactive diplomacy, peace talks, and conflict resolution—exemplified by his achievement of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire framework.

The National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy both outline the administration’s approach of “flexible realism” and prioritize the Western Hemisphere and Indo-Pacific.

In January 2...

Transatlantic relations are seemingly going through a period of recalibration following the World Economic Forum in Davos and amid ongoing talks about the future of Greenlandic security. Across North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) capitals, debates are swirling about the future of Europe’s relationship with the United States.

Yet it remains as true today as it has for decades that a strong Europe is America’s best partner. Now, steadfast allies like Romania have a chance to chart Europe’s course toward a new economic, diplomatic, and military relationship with the US.

To that end, Romani...

The Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East will host a conversation with Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the United States special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. With Senior Fellow Michael Doran, the ambassador will discuss the Trump administration’s record in confronting the rise of antisemitism, including key achievements, ongoing priorities, and remaining challenges. Additionally, they will explore the importance of combating antisemitism for American efforts to support democratic resilience and manage the US alliance system.

On December 12, 2025, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg and representatives from Japan, the State of Israel, Australia, the Republic of Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed a declaration to mark the beginning of Pax Silica—a United States–led strategic initiative to build the secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain essential for the future of artificial intelligence (AI). The State of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates joined the initiative as the eighth and ninth Pax Silica signatories, with others expected to follow. Their accession mark...

Hudson will host Federal Communications Commissioner Olivia Trusty for an address on the national security importance of America’s communications infrastructure. She will discuss how geopolitical competition and evolving physical and cyber threats are reshaping communications networks into critical strategic assets. She will also outline the FCC’s role in promoting network reliability, resilience, and continuity of service. Finally, she will emphasize cybersecurity as a shared responsibility and highlight priorities for strengthening the United States’ leadership through modernized, secure, and resilient communications systems.

In an increasingly dangerous geopolitical environment, a bipartisan consensus has emerged that the United States needs to reindustrialize. This is a welcome realization, but it raises a major question: What institutions and tools can Washington use to ensure that America can produce components, weapons, and equipment quickly and at scale? To incentivize growth in the defense industrial sector, the Department of War has created the Office of Strategic Capital and begun to identify useful authorities related to the Defense Production Act. It is also exploring other financial tools and modalities that could help restore US industrial independence. Join Senior Fellow...

Since joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alongside Lithuania and Estonia over 20 years ago, Latvia has been a key part of the alliance’s Baltic Sea posture. Riga continues to invest heavily in security, expanding the size of its armed forces, procuring key capabilities like American-made High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and building out a Baltic defense line alongside Estonia and Lithuania. Bordering the Baltic Sea, Russia, and Belarus, Latvia’s geographical importance is obvious. Additionally, Latvia has been a strong supporter of Ukraine in its war for survival. Since 2022, the country’s contributions to Ukraine are the fourth largest relati...

Institutions of higher education in the United States have long benefitted from free and open collaboration with overseas partners. But foreign adversaries like China have exploited this openness to infiltrate American colleges and universities with programs like Confucius Institutes and Chinese Student-Scholars Associations. Beijing also uses generous financial contributions to infuse its propaganda and interests into American campuses. By exploiting America’s education system, the Chinese Communist Party is attacking core American values like free speech and imperiling US national security. Join Senior Fellow Michael Sobolik for a conversation with Sarah McLaughlin, a senior scholar at the Foundation for Individual Ri...

Russia’s war against Ukraine and Moscow’s constant meddling in Moldova’s internal affairs have only galvanized the Moldovan people’s commitment to a Euro-Atlantic path. In the country’s October elections, Moldovans reaffirmed this Western trajectory. Despite Russian interference, Moldova conducted free and fair elections, resulting in the formation of a pro-European government. Since formally beginning European Union accession talks in December 2023, Moldova has made significant progress toward full membership. Notably, the country has become an important component of the European security landscape amid Russia’s ongoing war. Meanwhile, relations between the United States and Moldova have deepened in recent ye...

China’s tightening grip over critical mineral supply chains has long posed strategic risks to the United States. But Beijing’s expanding control over pharmaceutical ingredients may prove even more dangerous. In recent years, Chinese exporters have quietly pumped unregulated and frequently counterfeit active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into America, exploiting gaps in US law and Washington’s sluggish implementation of drug-tracking requirements. These schemes—often involving mislabeled packages and gray-market distributors—have already resulted in hospitalizations and deaths, revealing how China’s leverage over essential medical inputs directly threatens Americans’ health and safety. As with minerals and manufacturing, the Chinese Communist Part...

Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran will have a discussion with Caroline Glick, international affairs advisor to the prime minister of Israel, about Israel’s position in global affairs, regional developments, and the international challenges shaping the country’s strategic environment.

Palantir Cofounder and CEO Dr. Alex Karp and Hudson Trustee Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, deliver remarks at Hudson Institute’s 2025 gala, at which Dr. Karp received the Herman Kahn Award.

Art can be valuable, highly portable, and difficult to trace—making it an ideal vehicle for concealing illicit wealth. The United States hosts the world’s largest and most dynamic art market, with tens of billions of dollars of sales taking place each year. But high-end art dealers’ associations with private wealth and their commitment to customer discretion have made the sector a magnet for money laundering and sanctions evasion. Drug cartels, Hezbollah financiers, and Russian oligarchs have all been caught exploiting the US art trade in recent years. Meanwhile, China’s emergence as a major art market has introduced new vect...

The creation of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II, the professionalization of American intelligence during the Cold War, and the networking of intelligence after 9/11 each ushered in a revolution in national intelligence operations. Now, the United States’ geopolitical rivalry with China and the rise of artificial intelligence have sparked a fourth revolution. In his new book, The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: The Future of Espionage and the Battle to Save America, former senior intelligence officer Anthony Vinci explains why intelligence is permeating fields from economics to science and technology, AI’s expanding role, and how authoritarian adversaries targ...

Palantir Cofounder and CEO Dr. Alex Karp and Hudson Trustee Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, deliver remarks at Hudson Institute’s 2025 gala, at which Dr. Karp received the Herman Kahn Award.

In this week’s episode of China Insider, Miles Yu covers NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's recent trip to Beijing amidst the US government investigation into the company's potentially illicit sales to China in violation of US export regulations. Next, Miles provides detailed analysis on the PLA Navy's CNS Fujian - China's latest aircraft carrier to enter fleet service - and what this means for China's naval warfare operational capacity and blue water capabilities. Finally, Miles reviews Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim's recent address at the European Union's Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China's Annual Summit (IPAC) in Brussels. China Insider is a we...

The historic C5+1 summit in Washington—at which President Donald Trump will host the heads of state from the five nations of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)—will aim to create new momentum for American engagement in the region. In an era defined by great power competition and the fight against transnational terrorism, the United States and the five nations of Central Asia share many common interests. Additionally, Central Asia lies at the heart of the supercontinent and is rich in energy and mineral resources. After 10 years of engagement through the C5+1 format, Washington and its C5 part...

In 2019, the Chinese Communist Party cracked down on political freedom in Hong Kong and violated the special region’s autonomy. The Trump administration began rolling back America’s special treatment of Hong Kong the following year. But that process is not yet complete. Over the past five years, the CCP has opportunistically exploited Hong Kong’s unique status in international institutions and within the United States to harm the interests of America and its allies. Policymakers should align Hong Kong’s legal status with the CCP’s exploitation of the island. Join Senior Fellow Michael Sobolik and an expert panel for a disc...

On September 4, the United States and Japan outlined the structure of the $550 billion US-Japan investment fund, and gave further insight into how Washington and Tokyo will use it to advance their industrial and technological leadership. The allies agreed to focus on several strategic sectors—including shipbuilding, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, and energy—that will spur mutual growth, secure allied supply chains, and insulate the US, Japan, and their allies against economic coercion.

To further explore the fund and its allocation, Hudson Institute’s Japan Chair will host an event featuring two panels with financial, industrial, and policy...

America’s AI Action Plan, which the White House released this July, presents a comprehensive vision for American dominance in the global artificial intelligence race. As technological advancement and geopolitical tensions accelerate, the Trump administration and Congress have a historic opportunity to enact strategic policy that fosters innovation, secures critical technology and information infrastructure, and wields American AI power effectively on the international stage. To discuss how America can secure its AI leadership, Senior Fellow Jason Hsu will host Congressman Rich McCormick (R-GA), a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Ov...

In 2025 signs of weakness in the Russian economy are increasingly visible: high inflation, growing financial stresses, gasoline and food shortages, rapidly slowing oil revenues, shortages of key manufacturing parts, failed auctions of sovereign bonds, and depletion of its sovereign wealth fund. Many analysts predict the Kremlin’s ability to maintain its war economy will be severely stressed in the coming months, especially as Ukrainian strikes reach more Russian infrastructure and degrade the petroleum industry that pays for the war. Join noted economists Anders Aslund and Volodymyr Lugovskyy and Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas Duesterberg for an event that will analyze how gr...

Refining capacity is the greatest vulnerability in the United States’ critical minerals supply chain. After a decades-long campaign to price out competitors, China now dominates the refining sectors for many minerals and metals that are central to the global economy and to the US defense sector. In some sectors, Chinese firms account for as much as 90 percent of global capacity. This dominance is central to Beijing’s quest to recenter the international system away from the US and toward China. Washington needs to engage in a strategic and sustained effort to escape this predicament—and African nations will play a critic...

On October 10, Chinese Communist Party authorities handcuffed and detained the lead pastor of Zion Church, Ezra Jin Mingri, beginning China’s largest crackdown against a single house church in over 40 years. Party officials also detained or disappeared an estimated 30 other pastors and associates of Zion Church. Days earlier, the CCP escalated its rhetoric in the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. Beijing often demands that other nations remain silent about its human rights record as part of negotiations. But Pastor Jin’s arrest is a reminder of the human cost of acquiescence to that demand. Join Hudson for...

Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East will host a conference, featuring a keynote address by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), to examine the implications of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement. The conference will also explore the evolving role of the United States in the South Caucasus and assess how renewed peace efforts could reshape the Eurasian strategic landscape.

Southeastern Europe presents many opportunities to the transatlantic community, yet the region still poses numerous challenges. Adversaries have taken advantage of local divisions to cause security problems that could quickly escalate to strategic threats. The region also suffers from poor energy security, and many Southeastern European nations have stalled in their progress toward Euro-Atlantic integration. Concurrent with the World Bank–International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington, DC, Hudson will host a high-level discussion on Southeastern Europe. The first panel will explore the geoeconomic opportunities and challenges, while the second will examine the geopolitical and security dimensions of the region.

Hudson Institute’s Nadia Schadlow will host a conference on the future of America’s industrial base. The event will bring together representatives from new firms at the forefront of reindustrialization—companies working to address supply chain vulnerabilities, strengthen national security, and overcome institutional barriers. Company representatives will discuss their experiences, how their firms have navigated obstacles, and what changes the United States needs to make to fortify its manufacturing base. Additionally, investors and manufacturing sector experts will outline the most effective frameworks for attracting private capital and building sustainable public-private partnerships.