Tetsuya Watanabe is Vice President at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry(RIETI) and Visiting Professor at Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo.Hehosts the RIETI Global Intelligence Series, in which hediscusses the geopolitical tensions, global trade, climate change, digital transformation and regional integration in Asiawithexperts from the US, the EU and Asia.

Tetsuya joined RIETI in 2020 after over three decades as a trade policy maker and negotiatorin the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI), where he served as Director Generalfor the Trade Policy. At METIhe worked on a wide range of bilateral, regional and multilateraltrade negotiations and initiatives, including the WTO Joint Statement Initiatives on E-Commerce, the Trilateral Trade Ministers Meetings, RCEP, the Japan-US Trade Agreementand the Japan-UK Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Tetsuya also served asthe Chief Counsellor at the Government Headquarter for the TPP at the Cabinet Secretariat.Recently, Tetsuya co-authored policy briefs including "Getting America Back in the Game: A Multilateral Perspective'' and “Asia Pacific Digital Economy Governance”.He lectures at theUniversity of Tokyo on "Exploring a new global governance in the changing geopoliticaldynamics".