When America Slams the Door, Europe Should Hold It Open

By Maxime Pasquier, investor & Rasmus Holt @ BlackWood

The past few days in the US have been a masterclass in policy whiplash: a surprise $100,000 H-1B fee, talk of reshaping the lottery around wages and “skill levels,” and founders freezing hiring mid-flight. Trump is mighty fond of building walls; whether they’re physical to the south or priced as $100,000 tickets to play for global talent. (Most of the Billion-Dollar startups in the U.S. is founded by immigrants). Free enterprise, meet fee enterprise…

For Big Tech, it’s a nuisance; for startups, it’s an existential tax on talent. Canada and LATAM become wonderful hubs for remote hiring, as time-zone alignment still matters for US companies.

And for Europe, we should applaud our Orange friend: every time the US makes world-class builders feel unwelcome or uncertain, a window opens for us to compete for them.

The unintended consequence: less entrepreneurship

The US story has always been simple: the world’s best brains go to the Bay, build, and the flywheel spins.

Make entry costlier and less predictable, and ambitious builders will optimize for control, either remote-first teams that never relocate to the US, or relocation to hubs with faster, clearer paths. It’s pure founder math and Europe’s moment, if we choose it.

Europe isn’t perfect. We’re fragmented, our admin can be slow (pls fix, Germany), and talent pathways vary by country. But we also have real advantages: world-class universities and labs, deep industrial bases (energy, health, high-tech precision manufacturing), a rising cohort of application level AI and fintech winners.

Most importantly, we can offer certainty. Between the EU Blue Card and national high-skilled routes (France’s Talent Passport, Germany’s skilled worker reforms, Portugal/Spain entrepreneur tracks, the Netherlands HSM, the Nordics’ tech visas), Europe already has scaffolding for global talent. What we’ve lacked is coordinated intent.

More here: NBC & BBC