Donald Trump’s return to the White House could soon trigger a wave of liberal American tech workers to emigrate to Europe, experts say.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the continent may be able to attract disenchanted US professionals following Trump’s election, stressing that Europe needed to retain talent to compete globally.
Research has shown American tech workers disproportionately vote Democrat compared to the country at large. A 2023 paper from the Institute for Future Studies found only employees working in the arts and entertainment were more liberal.
And while Europe has its own issues – economic uncertainty and rising right-wing extremism, for example – some say benefits like universal healthcare and employment rights outweigh living under a second Trump term.
Martin Phelan, founder of medical startup Endosearch, moved to Germany in 2018 to pursue a PhD and ended up staying. He says that while Americans aren’t necessarily moving to Europe because of Trump, the new president has put a spotlight on a lot of the US’ problems.
“I have a friend who’s very concerned because he’s diagnosed with diabetes, and he’s afraid that his insurance premiums are going to spike,” says Phelan. “He was one of the first people to reach out to me asking whether he would be covered by Europe’s health system.”
Crossing the pond
For Philipp Werner, partner at German VC Project A, the prospect of US professionals relocating to Europe following Trump’s election is “plausible” — especially as cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich are attracting international interest “due to their robust tech ecosystems and high quality of life.”
However, he’s sceptical that Europe can hang onto any US talent that it poaches.
“The U.S. remains a significantly larger and more dynamic ecosystem, capturing 57% of global VC funding in 2024, resulting in more job opportunities and competitive compensation packages, particularly in Silicon Valley,” he says.
He adds that Europe’s market fragmentation, with differing regulations across countries that complicates business operations, could also be a turnoff for those “unfamiliar with this challenge.”
Sebastian Reiche, a professor at IESE Business School in Barcelona, says that while the Trump administration wants to retain talent, it may struggle to bring in as many new recruits from abroad. “Prospective talent may choose to target other countries such as in Europe, also because skilled migrant visas may be further limited during Trump’s presidency.”
There have been some efforts to remedy Europe’s market fragmentation: 2024 saw the launch of the EU Inc petition, which proposes the creation of a pan-European legal entity to help companies operate and scale across 27 EU countries, and talks of creating a single capital market resurfaced.
But some say Europe’s problems are bad enough that talent will flow in the other direction, as US tech remains considerably more competitive for founders than that of Europe’s.
“There are zero people disillusioned by Trump as, as of today, he’s mostly done the right things. Let’s hope he doesn’t go on a madman course. But the US is clearly signalling that it wants to be the place to build,” says Stefano Bernardi, general partner at Unruly Capital.
“They want to produce more energy, they want to reindustrialise, they want to win AI, they want to win crypto. The EU is a wandering jellyfish in comparison.”
Quality of life
Some Americans that have moved across the pond predict others will follow suit, citing the quality of life and democratic values Europe offers.
Phelan tells Sifted one of Europe’s greatest draws is its focus on work-life balance; the idea of having 20-30 days of holiday per year is unheard of for the average American.
Europe has its own domestic political issues, but generally speaking, the more liberal, tolerant and open approach in Europe will resonate with international founders.
“I don’t think Europe has to really change too much. I think the ideals and everything from cost of living, public transportation, and how we spend tax payer money on healthcare, all of these things are pretty well packaged to entice an American to move here, and I think we’re going to see a higher influx of people,” says Phelan.
Alan Poensgen, partner at Antler VC, agrees: “Obviously, Europe has its own domestic political issues, but generally speaking, the more liberal, tolerant and open approach in Europe will resonate with international founders.”
Retaining talent
Europe can attempt to make itself as attractive for international talent as possible, but whether or not a person wants to move to the continent will depend on their job, their career goals and the kind of life they want to have, says Phelan.
“If you’re saying, I don’t want to found a startup, I just want to work for a company. I want a better quality of life. Nine to five is okay for me. America is not the way to go. It’s Europe,” he says.
“If you’re looking to introduce new kinds of technologies and you’re willing to fail fast, but learn fast and you need fundraising, Europe is not the way to go.”
Nessrine Berrama, CEO of dotconferences in Paris, which organises events for international engineers in Europe, agrees.
“The continent is not yet well-placed to actually keep talent, according to my community of engineers. Many of them I discuss with still regularly go to San Francisco for ‘shoots of AI energy’ and to access the people that will accelerate their projects.”
Europe could better retain engineers, she says, by building more support communities for them. The continent should also focus on what it’s good at: applied engineering, as a differentiating factor to the US. Europe already has success stories such as Spotify and Mistral and there’s big opportunities for engineers to build in traditional sectors such as retail, banking and manufacturing.
Encouraging talent to come to Europe — and stay to found companies here — would mean sending a clear message to international talent that they’re welcome, especially at a time when most European countries are facing critical labour shortages, says Miki Yokovama, managing director at German family office Aurum Impact.
“The critical issue in Germany and Europe is to stop the far-right from gaining more power, as it has in the US,” she says.
“Policies driven by anti-immigrant rhetoric will make it impossible to attract or retain foreign talent, and our economies will suffer.”
With reporting from Kai Nicol-Schwarz, senior reporter at Sifted
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/us-tech-workers-move-to-europe-post-trump/
