More Americans than ever are googling ‘How to move to Europe’

The election of Donald Trump as the forty-seventh president of the United States will have significant repercussions on Europe, perhaps more than expected. Just recently, one week after the announcement of the Republican candidate's victory, Google searches by Americans for "how to move to Europe" have increased tremendously, reaching the highest number of clicks in the past twenty years. In a tense socio-political moment worldwide, marked by wars and crises on multiple fronts, Americans are looking for a response to their concerns: leaving the country. On one hand, the thought that on November 5th, following the Republican party's landslide victory in the presidential elections, hundreds of thousands of Americans scrambled for last-minute plane tickets may amuse some, but on the other, a potential migration phenomenon from the United States to Europe raises several questions. Will they be ready to face Barcelona, where citizens are rebelling against mass tourism with water guns? Or, how will Italy's Meloni government respond to their arrival, given its staunch stance on "defending" the country from immigrants? All jokes aside, it must be noted that if all the American users who Googled "how to move to Europe" in recent weeks (searches surged 456% in the U.S. on election day compared to the previous months' average) indeed followed through, Europe could finally see the end of the much-lamented "brain drain" that began in the last century.

If we were to guess which groups might be planning an escape to Europe right now, we’d surely bet on women and climate scientists. Just hours after Donald Trump’s victory as the forty-seventh president of the United States, thousands of American women took to social media to express their disagreement with the Republican candidate, instead showing interest in the "4b movement," a radical feminist movement born in South Korea in 2017 aiming to reject all interactions with men. Given Trump’s well-known sexist and anti-feminist views (to jog your memory, he was the one who infamously said, «Grab them by the pussy», and the one who took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade), it’s understandable why a young American woman (or indeed the parents of a daughter, one could add) might want to leave a country governed by a man accused of sexual misconduct by as many as twenty-six women. Similarly, for climate scientists (and everyone working in sustainability), moving to Europe might represent the only way to continue their studies without legislative or economic hindrances. Beyond being a notorious misogynist, Trump is also a climate change denier (on several occasions, he has labeled renewable energy a «scam»): during his first term, the former president had already withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Should he propose to pull out of the pact again, Trump might not only reinstate greater support for oil companies but also contribute to potential cuts in scientific funding for climate change research.

For the first time in decades, Europe finds itself facing an unprecedented opportunity: to strengthen education. As journalist Alexander Hurst notes in The Guardian, for the first time in decades Europe «has the opportunity to invert the transatlantic brain drain». Through special visas and financial support for America's brightest minds seeking to leave Trumpmerica, Hurst continues, «or perhaps to partner with US universities that might eventually seek to establish satellite campuses» in Europe, the continent could indeed make the most of the Republican president's new mandate. The same president who, a few months ago, announced he would initiate «the largest deportation» in U.S. history, as well as an oppressive system against the press, all political opponents, or individuals who protest against his government.