Brian Leung is an America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin’s Clements Center for National Security. His research examines the political economy of industrial policy, business influence on foreign policymaking, and geoeconomic competition, with a focus on U.S.–China relations. His current book project explains the unraveling of the U.S.–China engagement consensus, tracing how China’s industrial policies fractured the American business coalition that had long anchored engagement in Washington. Another project examines the politics of rights-based economic restrictions, such as forced-labor import bans and targeted sanctions, focusing on the conflict and convergence among human rights groups, businesses, and foreign policymakers. He draws on a range of methods and data sources, including computational text analysis, large-scale lobbying and patent data, elite interviews, and archival research. 

He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington, and his B.Soc.Sc. and LL.B. from the University of Hong Kong. In Fall 2027, he will join American University’s School of International Service as an assistant professor in the Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and has testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the erosion of rule of law and civil liberties in Hong Kong.