200 pointsby Palmika day ago19 comments
  • augusteoa day ago
    The mobility discussion is interesting to me as someone who navigated US immigration.

    Moving countries is hard. Not just paperwork hard, but restarting-your-life hard. Credit history, professional networks, understanding how things actually work versus how they officially work.

    If the mobility framework makes it meaningfully easier for skilled workers to move between India and Europe, that's significant. Not because of labor economics, but because talented people having more options is generally good for everyone.

    The H1B system in the US has created a lot of anxiety and frustration. Competition for that talent pool seems healthy.

    • The US is no longer in competition for that talent pool by its own deliberate actions.

      Might we see a European flowering as the US chokes itself into a regional power?

      • skinnymucha day ago
        That’s not true. Trump will be gone in a few years. Soft power and destabilizing many countries has done wonders for US hegemony.
        • Macha5 hours ago
          The soft power is partly based on the belief that the systems it’s built will constrain the US into acting reasonably (at least from the west’s perspective). The Greenland thing was not shut down on the US side hard enough and that has shattered that. Now Europe has to contend with the fact that the US system won’t rein in a president that goes too far, and so it basically has to be treated like the absolute dictatorships with all the risks of a mad king that goes with that
        • zeroc819 hours ago
          I believe the damage is done and there will be no going back to the old ways. This time around I'm sensing a real change in attitude. People in Europe are sick and tired of all the US bullshit that's been going on for far too long. It's not just the lunatic in the White House. It's the whole system that's being rejected. The endless greed. The bigotry. The war on everything. Peaceful cooperation and coexistence, that's what we want. I'm for my part quite happy and optimistic about the deal with India and I hope more regions will follow soon.
          • poncho_romero16 hours ago
            Agreed. See also Mark Carney saying "this is a rupture, not a transition" at Davos. We aren't going back.
          • saulpw11 hours ago
            Well said.
        • lostlogina day ago
          The soft power stuff has been canned. That has not generated good will, but that act pales compared to kidnapping, threats to invade various places and the destabilising effects of chaos as a leadership strategy.
        • Hikikomori15 hours ago
          Trump might be gone but project 2025 will continue. They're now most of the party, his cabinet and they're replacing government employees with loyalists (hiring program was part of it). They're attacking the election system again, maybe it won't work but there's a pretty big chance it will.
      • That isn't at all what I'm seeing. I still have people from Europe asking me to sponsor their H1B.
      • fookera day ago
        Sure, if they want to pay decent salaries.

        But no, you can make 3-4x in the US. That’s not an exaggeration. And before someone says ‘free healthcare’, big-tech employers in the US provide pretty nice insurance for employees that caps maximum out of pocket expenses to about a week of your salary.

        EU (except Zurich and London) tech salaries have sort of stagnated to a point that you make about the same in Bangalore, and spend significantly more.

        • verzali9 hours ago
          Losing a week of salary is still pretty bad. How many days off do you get? Days that you can actually take without losing the chance for a promotion?
          • fooker8 hours ago
            > Losing a week of salary is still pretty bad

            Keep in mind the salary is 3-5x for big tech positions with 5+ years of experience. Check levels.fyi if you don’t believe me.

            > Days that you can actually take without losing the chance for a promotion?

            Europe wins hands down on this. I happen to have a great employer where I have taken 4-5 weeks off a year without issues, but that’s not the norm in the US.

        • piperswea day ago
          Conveniently enough, neither Zurich nor London are in the EU anyways!
          • fookera day ago
            You’re right, I meant Europe.

            But makes me wonder if EU policies are contributing to wage stagnation.

            There had been several high profile cases in the US about wage stagnation, so much that tech companies are a bit wary of this topic.

            • foldr20 hours ago
              Surely you mean wage suppression (as in e.g. the unlawful agreement between Apple and Google).
              • fooker18 hours ago
                They are the same thing.

                In silicon valley, you can not afford to underpay good engineers, as they'll move across the street and get a job that pays double after a year.

                In most other places, this ecosystem does not exist because it is ridiculously difficult to start and operate a company unless you are part of some conglomerate.

                • foldr18 hours ago
                  Wage stagnation can happen without any kind of deliberate conspiracy.
                  • fooker18 hours ago
                    True, a bad economy will stagnate wages by definition.
        • ponector19 hours ago
          And it's really hard to land a job in Switzerland simply because there is a small market with tendency to offshore everything except high management.

          Swissre, UBS and many others all have open positions in Spain/Poland/India, not actually in Switzerland

          • MichaelZuo18 hours ago
            Actual formal engineering jobs in Switzerland come with benefits gold plating better than full federal government employees in the USA. And they’re almost as hard to sack.

            Nobody gives out positions like that easily to non geniuses. And even for more ordinary very smart candidates, there are enough of them to have a few hoops to jump through.

        • idle_zealota day ago
          > But no, you can make 3-4x in the US. That’s not an exaggeration

          Eh, we'll see how long that lasts as the transition from financial capital to global pariah progresses. It's quite possible that our labor is extremely overvalued.

          • fookera day ago
            Right now it relies on silicon valley's ability to churn out unicorns again and again.

            That part seems to be taking an ugly turn nowadays by a bunch of military AI/drone swarm/etc focused startups. I'm guessing that eventually after the Apple/Google model of making money is dead, you'll have to work for Skynet if you want to make money.

        • jltsiren21 hours ago
          Those "decent salaries" have caused a lot of trouble in the US. They are probably not that good for the society, even if they attract foreign talent.

          There is not much difference in labor share of GDP between the US and the EU. People who work for living get a similar share of the value they create in both blocks on the average (maybe a bit less in the US), but it's less evenly distributed in the US.

          Top 10% earners are now responsible for ~50% of consumer spending. That doesn't mean billionaires and capitalists, but upper middle class professionals and other high earners. The economy is great on the average, but most people don't feel it.

          • fooker19 hours ago
            > They are probably not that good for the society

            I don't disagree, as in an abstract sense inequality is bad for society.

            Try to understand why the US has high tech salaries though. It is because the last 40 years have made it pretty easy and convenient to start companies.

            Hence, good employees always have great options or can just start their own companies.

            • overfeed16 hours ago
              > Try to understand why the US has high tech salaries though. It is because the last 40 years have made it pretty easy and convenient to start companies.

              I thought this was because US trade and foreign policy coerced most of the world to open up their markets to high-margin American services via treaties. It's easy to pay high salaries when you're vacuuming money from around the world, and your product (software) has very low marginal cost of replication.

        • lawna day ago
          Add free education and childcare to the mix and the difference shrinks quite a bit.

          Not to mention the fascism problem of course.

          • fookera day ago
            Free education and childcare doesn’t come close to shrinking a 300k USD gap in total compensation. Real number in my case, I looked into moving to Berlin last year.

            > Not to mention the fascism problem of course.

            Agreed.

            The US is going in a terrible direction with this. I hope Europe has learned from history and won’t follow.

            • lostlogina day ago
              > I hope Europe has learned from history and won’t follow.

              France was recently an absolute inspiration in this regard.

              https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrlxn4ngdgo

            • surgical_fire19 hours ago
              I could make 2x-3x if I moved to the US.

              Turns out I can live a pretty comfortable life with EU salary. I could afford a house, car, family. Quality of Life is pretty great.

              I am not sure if the extra money in the US would be worth it.

              • joe_mamba8 hours ago
                >I could afford a house, car, family.

                You're in the minority now in EU if you can afford to have those things now. The housing and CoL crunch is real and many industries suffered layoffs. Q3 2025 youth unemployment is around 20-25% in several EU countries including developed ones like Finland, it's no longer an issue just for the less developed southern ones.

                >I am not sure if the extra money in the US would be worth it.

                Since you already have a house and everything, then yeah it makes no sense for you. But I would do it in a heartbeat if I could.

                • surgical_fire5 hours ago
                  > You're in the minority now in EU if you can afford to have those things now.

                  A quick search tells me that home ownership in the EU is Approximately 70%, ranging from around 95% in countries such as Romania and Slovakia, to around 50% in Germany. Non-EU citizens disproportionately owns less houses.

                  So, no. I am not at all in the minority.

                  Youth unemployment is an issue, being 15% in the EU as a whole, with some countries hovering on 30%. The US has 10% of youth unemployment (considering their labor laws are appallingly bad for workers, I am not sure if this is much of an improvement).

                  > Since you already have a house and everything, then yeah it makes no sense for you. But I would do it in a heartbeat if I could.

                  Good for you, may you achieve your goals.

                  I didn't own a house until a year ago. Refusing offers from the US and moving to EU was likely the best decision I ever made.

                  I had a life threatening illness not long ago. In the US I would likely be either bankrupt of dead. I appreciate the safety net and labor protections here, even with the higher taxes.

                  • joe_mamba5 hours ago
                    > to around 50% in Germany.[...] Non-EU citizens disproportionately owns less houses.[...] So, no. I am not at all in the minority.

                    Do you see the issue here?

                    • surgical_fire4 hours ago
                      No?

                      Home ownership in the US is about 65%, but I presume that may vary a bit by state.

                      I also expect non-US citizens to disproportionately own less houses.

                      • joe_mamba4 hours ago
                        I don't get the obsession with the US here. That's a different country than the EU where I(and you to afaik) live and the target of the topic.

                        If I can't afford a house, it makes it no better to me if you tell me that some people in the US also can't afford one, like that's supposed to make me feel better or something.

                        And with 50% home ownership statistics, it seems I'm not alone. I'm glad the system worked for you but it failed me and so I will vote to those who put my interest first and not devalue my labor.

              • fooker19 hours ago
                You are right, going the other way can be tough though.

                There are hobbies and interests you can pursue with a tech salary in the US that are somewhat out of reach in Europe without generational wealth.

                • burnerzzzzz18 hours ago
                  Curious: What hobbies etc are out of reach on an EU tech salary?
                  • bombcar18 hours ago
                    I may be wrong but my understanding is that it's not uncommon to find out someone in the USA is a private pilot, no matter what their job is (e.g., if your grocer or mechanic mentioned they have a license you'd not be shocked).

                    Apparently it's much rarer in the EU, but that might not only be a cost issue.

                    • overfeed16 hours ago
                      Cost is not a barrier. Entry-level kit aircraft are cheap in the US, as in cheaper than some of the fancier trucks. The very basic micro-lites are cheaper than any new car.

                      Conversely, Europeans workers get to enjoy some hobbies more than Americans - such as frequent travel - not because of how much they earn, but because of work culture and paid vacation time rules.

                  • fooker18 hours ago
                    Planes, boats, racing, horses.

                    The rule of thumb is that expensive hobbies cost in a year what the median yearly income in your area is.

                    A European tech salary would be about 2x of the median while a US tech salary can be 5-6x.

                    • joe_mamba9 hours ago
                      >A European tech salary would be about 2x of the median

                      Not even that if you're a worker in rich/developed EU country, unless we're talking FAANG/big-tech, since here SW dev wages are relatively close to national medians so an average SW dev worker doesn't take home 2x the the median.

                      Issue further compounded by the high taxes on higher wages and more generous government benefits and tax credits for those on lower wages, and suddenly the take home difference at the end of the fiscal year between a SW dev and average worker narrows down even further, to the point that it's not a career you get into for the money, like in the US.

                      BUt if you're in the less wealthy EU countries, with lower taxes and less welfare benefits, where the national average wages are lower in comparison to tech wages, like from Poland to Bulgaria then yeah sure, you can easily take home 2x-5x the national median in tech because the other industries are a lot less developed compared to SW products and service industry versus places like Germany or Norway with more diverse and developed industries raising the national average wages for everyone making tech workers feel underpaid.

                      • fooker8 hours ago
                        Big tech is about 2x of median, yes.

                        Even that is embarrassingly low compared to literally anywhere else with offices.

            • lawn19 hours ago
              Most people in the US don't earn SV top salaries, and for most people the difference is not that big (was my point).
              • fooker19 hours ago
                Right.

                I not talking about average wages, as that has no bearing on whether I would want to live somewhere.

                I'll primarily look at what I can make and what my quality of life would be like.

                • lawn9 hours ago
                  You are however making sweeping generalizations that you extrapolate from your own personal experience, while making hard connections between quality of life and the ability to earn more than your peers.

                  Meanwhile the Nordics for example consistently rank much higher in health, happiness, and quality of life, despite having lower top wages.

                  • fooker8 hours ago
                    I agree, not sure what the generalization was.

                    My point was that if you have a senior level big tech job in the US, it makes zero sense to move to Europe unless you have family there or want to make a significant financial sacrifice.

                    Obviously Europe wins for workers in general, and if I wanted to work in a car factory’s yes I’d do my best to work in Europe.

                    • dh20228 hours ago
                      I looked at your other posts in this thread. The lifestyle you describe is not the average US based developer lifestyle. You must live in a very selective circle. Because I only know one developer who owned his plane-that Canadian guy who literally coded the first version of S3, became irreplaceable so AWS let him move to Oregon and he was commuting by plane. And I only know one developer who owned horses-he actually made his money by buying a whole bunch of land in Kirkland in the 90s. These are the only two examples out of probably more than 100 developers I worked with.

                      I know developers who have motor bikes and a Porsche or BMW or, recently, Teslas that sometimes they take to the race track. But this lifestyle is common for EU devs as well.

                      • fooker7 hours ago
                        Yes, you are right.

                        I am not sure why everyone keeps bringing up the average though.

                        You have to decide whether it makes sense for you to be somewhere, based on how much you can expect to make and what your quality of life will be.

                        What the average person makes does not matter except in an abstract sense that equitable societies are better in general (which is absolutely true).

                        > You must live in a very selective circle. > These are the only two examples out of probably more than 100 developers I worked with.

                        People can be very careful about keeping professional life separate. There is a boat owners club in a marina I frequent, the vast majority of the members (out of about 200) are techies, it's a common hobby.

                        I know several that have a pilot license but only one who bought a plane, it's somewhat convenient to just rent every few months.

                        • dh20227 hours ago
                          What I meant to say is that the lifestyle of the average US dev is not that much better than the lifestyle of the average EU dev. From the examples you gave I only recognized the racing and boating lifestyles - both of which are accessible to EU devs. The planes and horses… not so much.
                          • fooker7 hours ago
                            Now think of a more specific category - big tech employees with 5+ years of experience.

                            There are a bunch more expensive hobbies, about half of the developers I know (personally outside of work environments) have one or more.

                            Planes came up because I am getting started with the training for it, horses because my friend has a farm with horses twenty minutes from a major city.

    • pjc50a day ago
      Does anyone have a detailed explainer on the mobility changes, or is it just not finalized yet?
      • alephnerda day ago
        It's an MoU to "discuss" mobility with no commitment to actually decide anything: "[a]dopted as a memorandum of understanding in parallel with the finalisation of the FTA, offers an excellent opportunity for us to cooperate on facilitating labour mobility, supporting skills development and capacity building, and working on skills and qualification frameworks" [0].

        Immigration remains under the purview of individual EU member states. And immigration/mobility is out of scope of the actual EU-India FTA deal and the EU-India Defense Pact deal.

        Notice how this entire thread got derailed by low karma and newish accounts dogwhistling immigration instead of discussing how the deal expanded European (and India) industrial and chemical exports to India (and Europe) by giving them a tariff rate under that which is Chinese transshipped products via ASEAN get thus making European (and Indian) capital goods cost effective and now includes India as part of ReArm Europe [1] - the EU's defense fund for European and Ukrainian rearmament [2].

        Who needs Russian backed farmer disinfo networks [3] when you have anonymous "software engineer" and "OSINT" accounts stirring $hit to try and undermine the EU-India relationship [4]. That said, the deal will go through because the right businesses and unions were mollified over the past 2-3 years building up to this.

        [0] - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_...

        [1] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence...

        [2] - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2025/7695...

        [3] - https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/12/01/putin-permafr...

        [4] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...

        • joe_mamba9 hours ago
          > dogwhistling immigration

          Where do you see the dogwhistling? Immigration is an actual concern to all working class people in EU who understand the basics of supply and demand of the labor market and housing, and I don't agree with trying to suppress such valid concerns by brooming it under dogwhistling, as blocking discourse on this topic just serves to radicalise people.

          Especially in current economic times of mass layoffs of many European industries and high unemployment especially amongst the youth, CoL and housing crunch, it's normal the tax paying locals with voting rights don't want their leaders making them compete with immigrants for the shrinking pool of jobs and housing when they themselves are struggling.

          And especially given how the typical government promoted immigration systems often marketed on "solving labor shortage in critical industries" and "bringing in the best and the brightest" have historically been abused by employers to drive down wages and reduce the bargaining power of the locals in working class jobs that had no actual shortage of workers, instead of being exclusive for the "best and the brightest" as they claimed.

          So given such precedents, it's perfectly normal that such policies be open to public debate and scrutiny since the public will be the one mostly affected, while the business and asset owning elite is always the sole winner in these cases and the ones pushing for them the most.

    • FiniteFielda day ago
      The rub here is "skilled workers". Just after Brexit, the Boris Johnson Tory government adjusted immigration rules for "skilled" workers, and caused a civilisation-altering number of people (now known as the "Boriswave") to immigrate to the country, mostly from India, Africa, and other less developed areas. It's now known that almost every pay level and skill (or lack thereof) of job was eligible under the new rules, with some countries of origin, like Zimbabwe, having up to 10 dependents per worker on average IIRC. The same story has played out in the US with the "skilled" H1B visa scheme. People have lost all trust in governments to architect immigration laws in the interest of the natives, rather than giving big business carte blanche to import their own replacement workforce who will do any available job for the national minimum wage.
      • bombcar17 hours ago
        "Skilled" sounds nice because it sounds like "doctors, educated" but the only real SAFE way to ensure it's actually skilled is make the dollar amounts so high that no company will want to use it to import cheap near-slave labor.
    • mmoossa day ago
      > talented people having more options is generally good for everyone

      While I support free markets, that argument sounds a bit like the basis of the old 'trickle-down economics' and similar theories such as global free trade: Help the wealthy and the benefits will 'trickle down' to everyone else.

      It turns out that if you help the wealthy, then the wealthy benefit. I know that doesn't sound like a surprising result when it's said that way, but the point is that the rest is a convenient fiction the wealthy tell themselves and politicians tell the public, in order to serve themselves.

      In the US for example, those policies have led to historic increases in wealth for the few, and stagnated wages for the many. On the other hand, in less well off economies such as China and Brazil, the policies led to historic numbers lifted out of poverty - far more than anything in history. So that's a great result that we absolutely should not ignore or put a stop to. I support free trade.

      But if the policy isn't specifically designed to benefit workers in the US, for example, if they are left to get theoretical second or third order theoretical benefits, it won't work for them. It's not 'generally good for everyone' unless it's made that way.

      • BonitaPersona19 hours ago
        I don't understand what your point is when comparing how similar policies helped general population prosperity in less-well-off countries to the USA you say only benefiting the wealthy.

        What should I be getting out of your argument? Asking in good faith.

        For example, that there's more to it than that simple rule, or that once a certain level of general population prosperity is reached it stops working, or that impoverished populations have a culture that better benefits from such policies... ?

        • modo_mario7 hours ago
          >I don't understand what your point is when comparing how similar policies helped general population prosperity in less-well-off countries to the USA you say only benefiting the wealthy.

          Not him but I'd say it suppresses wage bargaining power in the USA or in this case Europe.

    • iberator16 hours ago
      [flagged]
    • iberator16 hours ago
      [flagged]
  • newyankeea day ago
    This is excellent, the duopoly discussions of the world mostly center around US and China and EU feels increasingly excluded while the rest of the world appears as footnote for good or bad reasons. I do hope this means there is enough dynamism in global trade.

    The current challenge is that China has so much industrial overcapacity that it possibly can sell goods at near , sometimes even below mfg costs which makes it difficult if not impossible for India or other country made goods to even think of competing in the middle part of the value chain. Yet, it is the only hope for India to climb at least slightly even if they can never hope to get to the frontier of mfg. Chinese goals now are to amortize their existing mfg investments in any way possible but they still find it difficult to spur domestic consumption

    • skinnymucha day ago
      Europe and the EU, Japan are vassal states curently occupied by the US. China, Russia, India are largely independent states. I am sure once Europe is not occupied, it will be talked about more.
  • sashank_1509a day ago
    I’m surprised, so it seems like most tariffs are falling towards zero on all products except agriculture and cars below 17,000$ in the coming few years.

    Especially cars, India has had insane tariffs on luxury cars and motorcycles that will disappear, which is interesting. On the face this seems like a good deal for India as India can probably export much more than EU can to India except for a few sectors like Automobiles and Chips, but who knows, I assume EU officials seem to think the gains in a few high tech sectors are enough to offset the cheap goods on all other sectors.

    • orloffm8 hours ago
      It's all about German car makers wanting to sell more cars. The recent Mercosur deal was also about it. Of course, no one will buy them anyway since they are too expensive and low quality and Chinese cars are more accessible anyway.
      • joe_mamba8 hours ago
        I get the same feeling. German car manufacturers had most of their growth in the past two or so decades from the Chinese market. But now they lost the EV race and CHinese customers prefer Chinese EVs to German ones(Porsche alone lost 99% operating profits!), so they are desperate to offload those cars to new markets any way they can, even at the expense of poor trade deals that might damage other sectors of the EU economy long term.

        It's not a coincidence that EU suddenly signs trade deals left and right with the utmost urgency, see the recent Mercosur deal. The coffers are going dry and they need to bring in every euro they can no matter the future societal cost.

        I'm happy to be proven wrong, but personally I'm skeptical these trade deals will lead to an increase in purchasing power and QoL for the average EU working class citizen in many countries, who've seen a stagnation or even decrease in the last decade or so.

    • kseca day ago
      The cheap goods are already coming from China, so having more of it from India doesn't hurt them at all.
    • lostlogina day ago
      > cheap goods

      In a cost of living crisis, maybe this is seen as a helpful import?

    • SanjayMehta16 hours ago
      The high tariffs on imported luxury cars never made much sense from the revenue point of view.

      Our bureaucracy and governments has finally learnt how to do a Pareto analysis and learnt the difference between high volume/low margin vs low volume/high margins.

  • breitlinga day ago
    Canada is embarking on a trade agreement with India and collectively our greatest fear is the immigration issue. Canada's immigration is already quite lop-sided.
    • mlmonkeya day ago
      Trade != Immigration
      • RhysabOweyna day ago
        Immigration is absolutely a part of this deal. Interestingly, EU official communications and western media barely mention this, but the Indian government's official communication tout a "new framework for mobility" that will "open up new opportunities in the European Union for Indian students, workers, and professionals." [1]

        [1] https://www.mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl%2F40615%2...

        • tpm11 minutes ago
          As the immigration is governed by the member states themselves and not by the EU, I don't see how it can be "a part of this deal". Which is probably why the media don't mention this. There is nothing to mention.
        • rawgabbita day ago
          The quote is “Alongside this ambitious FTA, we are also creating a new framework for mobility. This will open up new opportunities in the European Union for Indian students, workers, and professionals.”

          I read it as he is working on a separate deal besides the aforementioned FTA.

      • schnebbaua day ago
        Right but if you want a favorable trade deal then you gotta throw in some immigration sweeteners.
        • Particularly with India, that's normally one of their top requests.
          • Why is it a top request from India? What does the Indian government get out of letting their kids overpay for education abroad?
            • gordonharta day ago
              1. ~4% of their GDP is from remittances, compared to <1% a few decades ago[0]

              2. India has a massive male surplus[1] and they actively look to send them abroad to prevent domestic unrest

              [0] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?lo...

              [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

              • joe_mamba8 hours ago
                > look to send them abroad to prevent domestic unrest

                Great, now other countries can import and share that domestic social unrest from the oversupply of frustrated reproductive age celibate males, all in the name of making GDP number go up. Lovely.

                Surely using hindsight of documented history and well researched human behavior science, we can't already predict this will lead to a rise in political far right extremism, and everyone will be shocked as if it will suddenly come out of nowhere, and then the local males will exclusively be to blame for it, leading to further frustration, radicalisation and disenfranchisement. Surely this is not EXACTLY what's gonna happen.

            • India gets a metric fuckload of money back in remittances every year. Debatable if that's actually worth the brain drain, but then there's also the angle of having your young people learn from the rest of the world and return with new skills. I lean more towards the remittances though.
              • aurareturna day ago
                Governments don’t want smart people. They want dumb people because they are easier to control.
                • phainopepla217 hours ago
                  This explains why governments never subsidize universities
                  • aurareturn12 hours ago
                    Most do enough to keep their people from revolting.
                • inglor_cz18 hours ago
                  Are dumb people, in fact, easier to control?

                  I have seen a lot of smart people in thrall of ideologies that could be used to manipulate them left and right at will. Meanwhile, true morons tend to be unpredictably chaotic.

                  • aurareturn12 hours ago
                    Yea. Dumb people are lower class and uneducated. Give them a few bonuses and they’ll happily shut up.
            • SanjayMehta16 hours ago
              They can then reserve even more seats in education for the "oppressed."
            • 20 hours ago
              undefined
            • PKopa day ago
              [flagged]
          • breitlinga day ago
            Mark Carney should know that it would be an _extremely_ unpopular move right now to allow India more access to immigrate here.
            • OddMerlina day ago
              "Should know" and expecting a logical outcome is wishful.
    • uv-depressiona day ago
      > collectively our greatest fear

      Citation very much needed. This sounds like _your_ concern that you're trying to launder through projecting onto the rest of the country.

      • poncho_romeroa day ago
        Canada as a whole has been pro immigration for a long time, but our immigration system was broken in recent years, and the most visible consequence of that has been an enormous increase in low skill, low wage Indian workers. A lot of people who have never had issues with immigration policy before have become very anti Indian immigration as a result.
        • Tiktaalik18 hours ago
          I think there's some particular niche immigration programs (ie. TFW) that have been broken because bad actors are aggressively defrauding the government, but I wouldn't say that Canada's system is broken beyond that.

          I'm skeptical that an increase in so called "low skill" workers are even a problem considering that the country is experiencing labour shortages that have contributed to construction costs being so out of whack that building new buildings is unviable.

          Now we've "solved" that problem by turning immigration down to zero but that is a kludge and not an actual long term solution to systemic problems.

          It's pretty hard be critical of the need for supposed "low skill" immigration when pretty much all of our settler ancestors were penniless dirt farmers.

          • poncho_romero16 hours ago
            I agree for the most part. I said immigration is broken, but really the problems are almost exclusively to do with the TFW program and degree mills. One area the TFW program has hurt the country, is in the significant reduction in the number of jobs available to high school students. Anecdotally, I know of many high school students who have been unable to find any work for years, and a stop into any local fast food restaurant or superstore will back that up. These kids looking for part time jobs don't show up in unemployment numbers. They could help the labour shortage, but instead are silently being added to it, in favour of temporary foreign workers filling the positions.

            We do need immigration long term for sure! Canada is and will always be an immigrant country. That said, I also don't think an appeal to the past (the fact that almost all of our ancestors came as penniless farmers) should enter into the conversation. To my view, this is a dispassionate conversation about politics. Concerns over hypocrisy are irrelevant.

            • Tiktaalik15 hours ago
              Don't take it as an appeal to the past but rather the notion that even people with "low skills" are enormously valuable to building a country.
          • modo_mario7 hours ago
            >I'm skeptical that an increase in so called "low skill" workers are even a problem considering that the country is experiencing labour shortages that have contributed to construction costs being so out of whack that building new buildings is unviable.

            I'm skeptical that those migrants helped add more to the housing pool than their own needs.

          • inglor_cz18 hours ago
            Construction is not really a low-skill profession anymore, and needs highly qualified workforce to thrive. Buildings of 2026 are de facto complicated industrial robots.
        • uv-depressiona day ago
          > A lot of people who have never had issues with immigration policy before have become very anti Indian immigration as a result.

          So we just let racists determine national policy now? I wonder how that's working out in the US.

          • Questioning immigration policy is not racism. Anti-Indian sentiment in Canada is relatively recent and happened after a decade of mass immigration that is now widely agreed has contributed to a noticeable decline in the quality of life for all.
            • Tiktaalik18 hours ago
              "Widely agreed" meaning the National Post and other foreign owned conservative press banged the drum on the issue endlessly for years and years and now people are thoughtlessly repeating the talking point.
              • poncho_romero16 hours ago
                This is undoubtedly happening (and we need to do something about foreign owned press in this country), but I think this is too convenient a story. I am a socialist and I have become extremely concerned about immigration in recent years. I want to talk about those concerns and work towards solutions that are amiable for our country, Canadians, and immigrants. Unfortunately, a lot of people who otherwise share my beliefs, don't seem willing to acknowledge that people like me (who strongly oppose the National Post propaganda organ) exist.
            • uv-depressiona day ago
              > Questioning immigration policy is not racism. Anti-Indian sentiment [ justification for said sentiment ]

              Wild sequence of sentences.

              > is now widely agreed has contributed to a noticeable decline in the quality of life for all.

              Citation very much needed.

              • poncho_romero21 hours ago
                If you can't agree that questioning immigration policy is not racism, there is nothing to discuss here.
          • poncho_romeroa day ago
            You don't understand, and your unwillingness to approach this issue with the nuance it deserves will only drive people towards right-wing extremists. These people are not racists! The federal government increased immigration (largely of TFWs and students) by far too much, and that has put an enormous strain on Canada's housing and job market. Canadians are turning against broken immigration policy, which has naturally become associated with its most visible aspect--the recently arrived, unskilled Indian worker. You must understand the negative sentiment is driven by association with bad government policy, not naive racism towards Indians. Of course, none of this is the fault of individual immigrants or TFWs, but they are part of the problem, because they are symptoms of it.

            Racism is a serious allegation. Let's not cry wolf when there is a reasonable explanation here.

            • uv-depressiona day ago
              How else am I to interpret someone seeing a group of people working low wage jobs and concluding that everyone from their country is a bad influence?

              > will only drive people towards right-wing extremists

              The right talks a big game about personal responsibility, but somehow their worst beliefs are always someone else's fault. Funny, that.

              > naturally become associated

              Now see, that's exactly what I'm talking about. It's _not_ natural or inevitable.

              • poncho_romero21 hours ago
                No one said "everyone from their country is a bad influence." Indians were viewed as model immigrants in Canada for decades. Again, their good name is being tarred due to bad government policy.

                My point is is that if leftists cannot talk about immigration policy in a nuanced way, right-wing extremists (for there are no other kinds of right wingers these days) will be the only game in town, and people who want to talk about immigration policy will therefore be drawn towards them.

                Humans see patterns in everything, that's how we work. You can be a naive idealist all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that people will inevitably associate the effects of a bad policy with the policy itself.

                • uv-depression21 hours ago
                  > My point is is that if leftists cannot talk about immigration policy in a nuanced way

                  Does nuance mean agreeing to your framing of a situation? If so, I guess not. That's not what it means to me.

                  > a naive idealist

                  Insults aren't helping your case.

                  > associate the effects of a bad policy with the policy itself.

                  What are the effects you're referring to here?

                  > Humans see patterns in everything, that's how we work.

                  Here's a pattern I see: American-owned propaganda networks take over Canadian news and trying to drum up racist sentiment and lots of people falling for it.

                  • modo_mario7 hours ago
                    >Insults aren't helping your case.

                    It sucks that you started with them then by calling people who disagree with you racist.

                    >What are the effects you're referring to here?

                    Drastically reduced wage bargaining power in various sectors and also for general unskilled labour typically done by students and the like. Straight up displacement in some areas. More strain on a housing supply that's already incredibly overvalued. Hell I'd argue that the migration was incentivized by the canadian local governments tax dependence on housing prices going up.

          • FiniteFielda day ago
            US immigration policy was explicitly racist from its founding up until the Hart Cellar act of 1965. Assuming that the 2016 election of Donald Trump is your benchmark for when immigration policy became determined by racists again, then the US's immigration policy was non-racist for 51 of the last 251 (and counting) years, or 20% of its history.

            Safe to say that the 1990s "End of History" theory has been proven wrong. It may be that the ~1960s-2010s "post-national" political consensus was actually just a historical aberration that is still in the process of being unwound.

      • breitlinga day ago
        Here ya go bud: https://abacusdata.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Slide6-1.pn...

        It is one of the top 5 issues for ALL Canadians.

        • uv-depressiona day ago
          Leaving aside the fact that this is a single picture of a chart with no source provided (or sample size, or methodology)... that's eighth on that chart, not fifth, and just says "immigration" with no further detail.
        • dyauspitran hour ago
          Number 8 on the list?
    • mekdoonggia day ago
      Canadians don't seem to have their priorities straight if they are more concerned about having a few more Indian neighbors than the US threatening to invade.
      • breitlinga day ago
        What's a "few more" to you?

        Look at this chart for example: https://preview.redd.it/in-the-first-three-months-of-2025-ca...

        • mekdoonggia day ago
          Ironically, the chart you've pointed out doesn't indicate the raw numbers, just proportions. 30% of immigrants being from India sounds perfectly reasonable. What's the problem?
        • zalthora day ago
          That’s about 30k people? So a 0.075% increase in your population with people from India (Not accounting for any departures back to India)
          • preuceian20 hours ago
            The Netherlands is preventing is trying to prevent hyperscale data centers from being built because they require as much energy is a year as a small city. I can't imagine dismissing the import of a small city's worth of Indians quarterly as trivial.
          • breitlinga day ago
            That's 30%, not 30K
            • triceratopsa day ago
              30% of 100k = 30k.
              • breitlinga day ago
                That 100K is just in 3 months. We are growing rapidly.
                • triceratops19 hours ago
                  > We are growing rapidly

                  I remember reading recently that Canada's population actually decreased last year. A quick Google confirms it: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251217/dq251...

                  • breitling18 hours ago
                    ugh...I guess I have to bring out the crayons to explain this

                    The reduction came from international students and temporary workers' permits expiring. We keep increasing permanent residents.

                    • triceratops18 hours ago
                      Whatever the case may be "We are growing rapidly" is inaccurate.
        • DesaiAshua day ago
          Welcome to the world by population that speaks English
    • diego_moitaa day ago
      > Canada's immigration is already quite lop-sided.

      I don't even understand what "lop-sided" means here.

      Would you say that Canada's oil and softwood businesses are lop-sided because we produce and export a lot of it? Or that the groceries' market is lop-sided because we don't produce a lot of it and therefore have to import?

      Canada is an importer of people (not only from India) because it can't produce a lot of people. It is not different from groceries.

      • breitlinga day ago
        Why not import from a variety of countries to preserve the social fabric? https://preview.redd.it/in-the-first-three-months-of-2025-ca...
        • triceratopsa day ago
          Is India lacking in variety? It has more languages than Europe.

          Variety isn't a bad idea in and of itself. But you're making the mistake of assuming all the people who live inside a particular nation's boundaries are the same.

          • India as a whole is diverse. Canada is NOT getting immigrants from all of India but rather from 2 states (mostly one). Please learn about the issue first.
          • poncho_romeroa day ago
            The majority of Indian immigrants to Canada are coming from one state, Punjab, so the benefits of diversity within India is not necessarily reflected in the Indians coming to Canada.
        • ryandrakea day ago
          What does "preserve the social fabric" mean?
          • poncho_romeroa day ago
            Because there are so many Indians around, newly arrived Indians tend to spend most of their time with other Indians, and as a result don't integrate with the rest of society as much as previously waves of immigrants did. Canada is a cultural mosaic, but a certain degree of intermixing and assimilation is necessary, in my opinion, to preserve social and national bonds.
          • debo_a day ago
            It's what the Irish said to us Italians when we were immigrating to Canada in droves.
            • poncho_romeroa day ago
              It's a much larger drove this time around, to be fair.
          • jacquesma day ago
            It's a dog whistle for 'keeping Canada white'. There are a lot of racists in Canada.
            • remarkEon11 hours ago
              This doesn’t work anymore.
            • poncho_romero16 hours ago
              Canada is one of the least racist countries in the world. Please travel.
              • jacquesm15 hours ago
                I've lived there. Bullshit.
              • api16 hours ago
                Honestly so is the USA. Yes there is racism, more than I used to think, but it’s below average.

                Not being racist is really a pretty modern idea that didn’t become popular anywhere until the last 50 years. For most of human history it was conventional wisdom that (whatever I am) is the obviously superior form of human. Statistically this is probably still what most living people think.

                I mean of course whatever you are is the master race. Isn’t it obvious?

            • whjte6 hours ago
              oy vey, well yes, Canada will remain white
      • modo_marioa day ago
        >because it can't produce a lot of people.

        So does every country that can't grow it's population indefinitely need to import a ton of people? What is the endgame there?

        And I thought trade in people as some kind of fungible economic token was out of vogue.

      • FiniteFielda day ago
        >I don't even understand [...]

        >It is not different from groceries.

        Do you appreciate that, in the wider historical context, this position is an exceptionally radical one? You seem to not understand how there could even exist a difference of opinion on this, but I'm confident that this outlook of humans as being completely fungible, transactional economic units would appear unthinkable to anyone throughout 99% of human history. Just the suggestion that a nation's population should be restocked by swapping it out with another nation's population would be tantamount to treason any time prior to the revolution of the 1960s.

      • franktankbanka day ago
        Is it typical to consider immigration as a trade similar to apples and oranges?
        • a day ago
          undefined
        • To politicians and economists humans are fungible.
    • franktankbanka day ago
      Do you feel like your govt represents you?
      • breitlinga day ago
        The current Carney govt? Maybe. Too soon to tell, but things are heading in the right direction.

        The previous Trudeau govt? Absolutely not. He was the prime minister of everyone except Canadians.

        • throwaway8582519 hours ago
          Carney is a new face with the same cabinet. Nothing has fundamentally changed or will change.
          • poncho_romero16 hours ago
            Do you believe Trudeau could have made a speech like Carney did at Davos? Or that he would have been so active in signing new trade deals and international agreements, or on dismantling internal trade barriers? I think there is a world of difference between them.
            • throwaway8582513 hours ago
              Using different words and acting in the same way.
  • comrade1234a day ago
    Switzerland has a free trade deal with India already and has a huge trade surplus (~25B). Free trade with china too and also a big trade surplus of around $20B.
    • I might be wrong, but isn't it due to them being a finance hub and/or Veblen goods?

      These are a bit of a legacy thing that countries can't just develop.

      • comrade1234a day ago
        CH to india key sectors include pharmaceutical products, electrical/electronic equipment, and organic chemicals.

        India to CH, gold, jewelry, equipment, textiles.

  • benterixa day ago
    > Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term.

    This is great news for professionals wishing to move to the EU, and I hope many will use this opportunity.

    • nindalfa day ago
      How are people mistaking what is clearly easier business visas to facilitate short term visits for migration? The EU can't commit to changes on migration because individual countries decide that.
      • modo_mario7 hours ago
        >The EU can't commit to changes on migration because individual countries decide that.

        Does it not commit the member states to for example uncap student visas which are a common route for migration?

      • izacus17 hours ago
        [flagged]
        • alephnerd14 hours ago
          You got flagged, but yes. Ironic especially as someone who has funded a US-India startup who's components helped the AFU maim orcs and who warned the Obama 2 admin against appeasing Putin/Medvedev.
          • joe_mamba8 hours ago
            Ironic that for someone thumping their chest on being a successful founder, a lot of your comments on HN seem to revolve around calling everyone who disagrees with you as Russian trolls/bots or racist.

            You're even repeating yourself over and over in the same thread, like for example here you wrote a wall of text TWICE, on why people should stop talking about the immigration clause of the trade deal with India because according to you they're racist if they bring it up.

            These takes of yours here are very patronizing, disingenuous and in bad faith meant to just accuse all critics of racism before they even open their mouth, when the arguments people bring up are genuine and in good faith.

    • rawgabbita day ago
      The quote uses the words mobility and travel and short term. It doesn’t mention residency or work permit. Am I missing something?
      • joe_mamba7 hours ago
        Those words used in the quote are intentionally vague to not cause political backlash from Europeans who won't be happy to hear about getting even more immigration and competition for labor and housing.

        Like if the framework would explicitly say "EU to allow in 20 million Indian workers every year" the political backlash would have been devastating, but since the framework only talks in vague phrases like "facilitate labour mobility" and "Enable mobility for skilled workers, young professionals" which are obvious migration policies but disguised in super vague terms to obfuscate the real intent.

        That's why they're politicians, that's their job, they need to gaslight you on how policies that only benefit the business/asset owning class is gonna benefit you, the working class, even if that's not true. Their job is to get the voters to buy into and accept the policies their lobbyists push for.

    • k4rlia day ago
      [flagged]
      • tasuki21 hours ago
        I'm from Europe (a white male, if that matters to you). I have worked with several people from India (off the top of my head: Vimal, Hijas, Os). They were all competent, going above expectations. And not just that, they were very nice to be around. They did bring value and integrated well into our civilized society.
  • profsummergiga day ago
    It's insane to me that BBC now has a paywall.

    Way to fall-off from being the one source of news everyone in "Anglo" countries in the Third-World used to turn to (and love and respect... however biased the news may have been).

    Edit: am trying to access from US, I see a paywall. Good to hear from comments that other countries don't see a paywall.

    • lenkitea day ago
      Huh, viewing from India here - no paywall. BBC can be biased, but it is very useful to know what the British state media thinks. This article is neutral reporting with barely any "analyst opinion" flavor.
      • scott_wa day ago
        Just for clarity: the BBC is not "state media," it's a public broadcaster. This is an important distinction as the UK Government cannot determine its agenda or directly influence its funding.

        The BBC will regularly criticise the government, especially when it's a Labour government.

        • zpplna day ago
          How is the license fee set, and what happens if you don't pay it?
          • scott_w20 hours ago
            It's set every 10 years as part of the charter renewal process agreed with the government and Parliament.

            Not paying the Licence Fee is a criminal offence.

            None of these make the BBC "state media."

            • throwaway8582519 hours ago
              Those are all indicators of state media.
              • scott_w18 hours ago
                Did you miss this:

                > UK Government cannot determine its agenda or directly influence its funding.

                > The BBC will regularly criticise the government

                The funding is set for a 10 year cycle, beyond the scope of any individual government specifically to protect the BBC from editorial interference by the government. That’s why it’s a publicly funded broadcaster, not “state media.”

                The onus is now on you and the OP to prove your claim that the BBC is state media.

                • throwaway8582517 hours ago
                  When I say state media I mean media that exists as a part of the state. Like when it's funded by the state or the state has some other kind of influence over it.
                  • scott_w16 hours ago
                    Your definition conflicts with UNESCO’s definition. By your reasoning, private US media outlets would have qualify as “State Media” because they kowtow to the Trump government - “some other kind of influence”. This is patently nonsense, so your definition is incorrect.
                    • dragonwriter16 hours ago
                      UNESCO using a definition that doesn't account for fascist corporatism and other means vy which nominally private entities can serve as arms of the state doesn't make that definition universally correct, it just makes it UNESCO’s definition.
                      • scott_w14 hours ago
                        Definition:

                        > State media are typically understood as media outlets that are owned, operated, or significantly influenced by the government.

                        Which part of this definition is lacking, in your opinion? Which part of the UNESCO report do you think is incorrect? My source: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380618.locale=en

                    • throwaway8582513 hours ago
                      CBS is owned by an oligarch carrying favor. This isn't state media. Oligarchs act in their own interests and sometimes make alliances.
                      • scott_w9 hours ago
                        You didn’t rebut my point at all. Try again.
    • deweya day ago
      > US-based visitors to BBC.com will now have to pay $49.99 (£36) a year or $8.99 (£6.50) a month for access to most BBC News stories and features, and to stream the BBC News channel.

      Only the US traffic has a paywall, there's none if you visit it from somewhere else. Understandable to charge people who don't pay for it with their taxes in my opinion, especially if you delivery videos and other expensive content for free without ads.

      • Symbiotea day ago
        It should be funded as part of spreading the British viewpoint, promoting British values, culture and so on — i.e. maintaining "soft power".

        I would have expected Britain to realize this and continue funding it.

        • verzali9 hours ago
          The US is suing the BBC for $10bn. It is only fair for Americans to pay the cost of that.
        • scott_wa day ago
          Most of these cuts happened under the previous government, including where they restricted how revenue from BBC World Service can be recycled into its local broadcasting. You'd almost think the Conservatives were trying to get rid of it.
      • landl0rda day ago
        There are another two hundred-odd countries who also do not pay for it with their taxes. The BBC has apparently not seen fit to paywall them. This is a very confusing and inconsistent move.
        • deweya day ago
          > BBC.com reaches 139 million visitors globally, including almost 60 million in the US, the corporation said.

          From: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o

          The other countries most likely don't make up such a big chunk of visits / costs.

          FWIW: There's many news sources in the US (Usually regional news papers etc.) that just throw a forbidden or 402 status code right away at anyone not using a US IP.

          • landl0rdan hour ago
            The BBC puts ads on visitors from outside Britain. The NPV for them of having a foreigner visit the site is probably very weakly positive.
    • sam_lowry_a day ago
      I don't see the paywall. EU-bound.
  • hexbin01017 hours ago
    This will have no adverse affects on wages, there is definitely skill shortages in IT and nursing in the EU, anyone mentioning immigration is a racist xenophobe, there is no comparison to the UK nor Canada, do not talk about the huge amount of outsourcing to India already happening, your personal experiences are racism, is it cold in Russia?

    Did I miss anything?

    • alecco2 hours ago
      Edit: can't parse sarcasm.
      • Telaneo2 hours ago
        They're missing an /s.
    • whjte6 hours ago
      [flagged]
  • heraldgeezera day ago
    More indian IT imports that get to enjoy Europe...
  • nikanja day ago
    EU will scuttle the trade deal to protect the niche interests of French onion farmers. See Mercosur.
  • diego_moitaa day ago
    I am pleasantly surprised.

    I always thought of Brussels as the city where decisions go to die; that the EU discusses everything, poses for pictures and solves nothing. Then, in less than a month we have the trade deal EU-Mercosur and this one with India.

    Maybe the Europeans can actually solve problems, after all.

    • etyhhgfff21 hours ago
      Wait EU-Meecosur is currently on ice, because France is against it and they brought it up to the highest EU court to decide.

      I expect something similar with the India Deal, there is always some form of Veto in the EU that makes it very hard to act as a unit.

    • snowpida day ago
      1.) These trade deals were discussed for 20 years. 2.) Politics always needs discussion of loosy "all people that matter" 3.) EU by definition has a broad definition of "everyone matters". That's why it is lame but that is why it is interesting for countries outside of the EU becoming a member.

      4.) EU does get things done. Maybe you don't read the news (where do you live?)

      • diego_moitaa day ago
        Well, I take 1-3 as evidence for my point.

        It is funny that it took less time for South Americans to create the Mercosur and for the Pacific countries to create the trans-Pacific partnership than to negotiate any trade deals with the EU.

        > where do you live?

        Latin American living in Canada.

        • Symbiotea day ago
          You can see the news the EU reports here, in case you are interested: https://european-union.europa.eu/news-and-events/news-and-st...

          Of course that's probably not including things that aren't progressing for whatever reason. Otherwise, a lot of this isn't of much interest to someone on another continent.

        • snowpida day ago
          my first points are about slowiness which is different to "nothing done". The EU has a wide array of free trade agreements.

          "Latin American living in Canada." Probably thats why you dont read about EU laws. Today Commission investigate into Google for breaking the DMA. The DMA itself is a very important piece of law.

  • pidgeon_lover7 hours ago
    This sounds like a terrible deal, especially if it involves a flood of immigration from India
  • Gud20 hours ago
    Honestly I think this is amazing news.
  • testing22321a day ago
    This is fantastic, just another step of trade moving away from being US-centric.

    Everyone is just going to move on and ignore the silly tariffs.

  • alephnerda day ago
    Reuters has the draft terms - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d.... Mobility is not mentioned.

    You know it's a good deal for the EU and India given that China has been attempting a diplomacy blitz against the deal [0] for [1] years [2] now [3].

    Indian DefenseTech and Dual Use technologies vendors can also now participate in ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [4] (the EU's Defense Modernization fund) as part of the India-EU Defense Pact [5] that was also signed, especially after the French Government identified [6] a Chinese-led disinformation operation against French and Indian DefenseTech which the DGSE reported on with AP [7].

    ---

    Edit: Notice how even on HN new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by dog whistling immigration even though mobility is not mentioned in the draft seen by Reuters and is a power that falls under individual state's sovereignity in the EU.

    ---

    Edit 2: Note the subsequent whataboutism that has arisen. A nation trying to conduct disinformation ops against another nation is an offensive action. It's the tip of the iceberg of attempts of foreign interference within France [8]

    ---

    Edit 3: Replying here

    > I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about.

    The GT is the de facto voice of China's foreign policy, and has consistently viewed the EU-India deal as an attempt to isolate China. Additonally, Table Media (Germany's equivalent of Axios) noted He Lifeng's statements against the EU-India deal dueing Davos 2026, as the EU and India are investigating a compromise on CBAM for Indian exports.

    ---

    Edit 4: Unsurprisingly, the entire HN thread has been derailed by immigration.

    ---

    [0] - https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-chi...

    [1] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222983.shtml

    [2] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222993.shtml

    [3] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202010/1205230.shtml

    [4] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence...

    [5] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-...

    [6] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...

    [7] - https://apnews.com/article/france-china-pakistan-india-defen...

    [8] - https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/07/02/deux-espio...

    • modo_marioa day ago
      • joe_mamba7 hours ago
        Funny how he can confidently push misinformation like that with a straight face when even the sources he cited disprove what he's saying, and then having the audacity to accuse everyone else contradicting him as being a russian troll/bot.
    • nindalfa day ago
      For people who don't know who alephnerd is, check their past comments on geopolitics. They're one of the more well informed commenters on HN.
      • hexbin01017 hours ago
        And a VC. VCs are famously known for supporting unions, railing against wage suppression, directly supporting higher wages, advocating protective policies etc. /s
        • joe_mamba7 hours ago
          Yep, VCs like alephnerd totally represent the views of the average EU working class.
      • enragedlurker15 hours ago
        [flagged]
    • RobertoGa day ago
      I read the three articles that you mention [0][1] and [2] and I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about.
    • paganela day ago
      As to your point [7], no need for China to "spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale ", I have at this very moment this book on my desk: Le Pouvoir sans visage: Le complexe militaro-industriel [1], written by a Pierre Marion [2], former head of the SDECE/DGSE in the early '80s, where said Pierre Marion does the same thing, i.e. he heavily criticises the Rafale programme and Dassault (the company and the man himself, Serge Dassault)

      [1] https://www.amazon.fr/Pouvoir-sans-visage-complexe-militaro-...)

      [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Marion

    • tokaia day ago
      To your edit, its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration. Its a completely fine comment. You should calm down.
      • philipwhiuka day ago
        > its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration

        The comment is so absurdly out of step that it's clearly just trying to stir the issue.

  • deafpolygona day ago
    This will strengthen relationship and stabilize the economy a lot in the face of Trumps tariff shenanigans.
    • My favorite part of this timeline is watching (union) leftists celebrate free trade and gun ownership.

      The sad part is that as soon as someone wearing a blue shirt enters office, they will get right in line with whatever the blue shirt says. I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria...

      • seanmcdirmida day ago
        Moderates have always appreciated free trade, including Obama and Clinton, and to a lesser extent Biden. Heck, Republicans going anti-free trade is a relatively recent thing, it used to be moderates liked free trade, and so did the far right, now its just moderates liking on free trade and the far left and right not.

        > I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria...

        Again, you are mistaking Obama for a far-left liberal when he was basically a moderate with no qualms on intervention. Now that we can compare Obama to a populist who claims to be but is not really a conservative either, I don't think we can claim much.

        • I'm not talking about the politician, but rather the base of supporters who quickly supported things that would have been trashed if the other team did it.
          • seanmcdirmida day ago
            You are charactituring their supporters just like you are the politicians. There is a wide swatch of opposition to Trump: moderates like me, and far lefties that I don't normally agree with on much. Most of the opposition to Trump are from moderates (most Americans are in the middle somewhere), although the most visible opposition is are the far left activist types (because...well...they specialize in visibility). They weren't protesting tariffs, they are protesting ICE, so really they are pretty ideological consistent.
            • Again, I'm not talking about moderates. I'm talking about party loyalists.

              I admittedly am part of a trade organization, so I am quite friendly to both teams. Call what I see intuition. I usually place these numbers at:

              >Total Loyalists: 30-40%

              >Ideological Believers: 30-40%

              >Ambitious Opportunists: 30%

              • seanmcdirmida day ago
                > I'm talking about party loyalists.

                Party loyalists are moderates, the far left is the one that doesn't turn out to vote when Democrats aren't pursuing their agenda, they were the ones to get on the Bernie train, etc...

                > Call what I see intuition.

                Sure, it is obviously not fact driven.

                • If you want to bring facts into this, I have bad news about metaphysical truth.

                  >The Problem of Priors ruins basically all of science

                  >Particulars vs Universals

                  >Your senses are organic chemical reactions that lose reality, then you use different chemical reactions that turn it into logical thought, further simplifying and allowing mistakes.

                  >Deflationary Theory of Truth is probably the correct one.

                  I don't need to know about gravity to know the sun will rise tomorrow, I can use my intuition. However, my intuition also says the earth is flat. So take what you will.

  • alecco20 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • jaredklewis19 hours ago
      Press release says

      > On mobility, the India-EU FTA provides a facilitative and predictable framework for business mobility covering short-term, temporary and business travel in both directions.

      Do you predict short term business travel from India will increase youth unemployment in Europe? Why?

      Don’t you think a larger export market for EU products like cars will increase employment in the EU? That would be my prediction.

      • modo_mario6 hours ago
        Does it say that about short term business travel only?

        "offers an excellent opportunity for us to cooperate on facilitating labour mobility" "This cooperation framework will facilitate the mobility of skilled workers, young professionals and seasonal works in shortage sectors" "The Office will help Indian workers, students, and researchers find out about opportunities in Europe, starting with the ICT sector with the aim of expanding it further in the future."

        Beyond that press release apparently it commits member states to EU commits to uncapping student visas for Indian students

    • alephnerd20 hours ago
      Immigration is not part of the EU-India Trade Deal [0] nor the EU-India Defense Pact [1].

      The only mention of mobility (not even immigration) is a vaguely worded MoU with no commitment of execution [2].

      Instead, Europeans should be thankful that India has now reduced tariffs on European engineering and chemical goods to below what Chinese transshippers paid via the India-ASEAN FTA thus giving European manufacturers a much needed export market defended against Chinese overproduction, and that India will now join South Korea and Japan in arming Ukraine and the entire EU as part of ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [3]. Heck, India has already begun defending Greece [4] and Cyprus [5] against Turkish aggression in the Aegean and investing in European infrastructure development [6].

      The only people who would be opposed to the EU-India Trade and Defense Deals are those who want the EU to remain a perpetual junior partner to the US or China. In fact, China has a history of leveraging disinformation [7] to undermine EU-India relations.

      Given the pattern of accounts on this thread and how it was derailed by the boogeyman of immigration, there are hallmarks of a spamoflauge operation similar to what the EU-Mercosur deal faced.

      Also, individual EU states have always had the final say on immigration policy within their borders.

      [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d...

      [1] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-...

      [2] - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_...

      [3] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence...

      [4] - https://geetha.mil.gr/kyklos-synomilion-staff-talks-kai-ypog...

      [5] - https://www.gov.cy/proedros-proedria/koini-diakiryxi-gia-tin...

      [6] - https://www.lagazzettamarittima.it/2025/10/30/rixi-in-india-...

      [7] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...

    • surgical_fire19 hours ago
      Did you even read the trade deal?

      I mean, if your problem is unemployment, leaning how to read would go a long way.

      • alecco19 hours ago
        The agreement also includes "mobility". The EU has plenty of STEM talent. And since many industries are downsizing due to energy and other issues, there's no point to bring more from India, of all places.

        [0] "India, EU seal landmark mobility pact; Indian professionals, students set to benefit" 27 Jan 2026 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/india-eu-seal...

        • alephnerd19 hours ago
          Here is the EU press release - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_...

          The only mention is an MoU to discuss mobility with no commitment of execution. Additionally, immigration remains the mandate of EU member states.

          Stop misrepresenting articles using the specter of immigration.

          • alecco19 hours ago
            Von der Leyen today: "We are signing an agreement on mobility. We will facilitate the movement of students, researchers, seasonal, and highly skilled workers. And this is also why we are launching the first EU legal gateway office in India. It will be a one stop hub to port Indian talent moving to Europe."

            https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2016230504605852133

            • surgical_fire19 hours ago
              That may be an intention, but the deal, as it is, does not cover mobility.

              From the BBC article:

              > Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term.

              The Mobility Work is separate from the deal.

              And you know what? Good that it includes it.

              One of the major strengths of the US, one that I see as amazing that they are throwing away, is that they were always very capable to attract talent from abroad.

              Having more skilled people around is never a bad thing. Only if you believe in a zero-sum economy.

              More trade and more talented people generally result in economic growth and technological progress.

              • inglor_cz18 hours ago
                Recruitment of talent from India is complicated. To be precise, sifting for actual talent in the sea of mediocre nephews of VIPs is complicated. You can't even rely on actual identity of the person who is sitting in front of the camera, it can well be someone who was hired to impersonate them. Low trust societies tend to operate like that.
                • alephnerd18 hours ago
                  That's rich coming from someone in Czechia. Indian tech salaries [0] are comparable to Italian [1] and Romanian salaries [2].

                  We deal with the same problems in Czechia, Poland, Romania, and India when paying at the lower end of the spectrum.

                  A Czech, Pole, Romanian, and Indian are all equally commodifiable to me as an American.

                  Either way you guys are taking American jobs, which represent the majority of tech jobs. And it's ironic that you sound the same as the Brits who railed about Polish, Romanian, and Czech immigrants before Brexit.

                  Anyhow, it doesn't matter. India's working with Czechia to lobby against CBAM, Agrofert has JVs with Indian SoEs, and India is one of the only non-CEE markets where Skoda has PMF so everyone who matters in Czechia will fall behind the deal.

                  [0] - https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/india

                  [1] - https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/italy

                  [2] - https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/romania

                  • inglor_cz17 hours ago
                    I am sure you do. Czechs aren't particularly honest people on average (why should I pretend otherwise? Mine is a medium-trust society at best, no Denmark or Iceland), and without the necessary cultural knowledge you will struggle to spot the red flags that the locals can spot easily.

                    Maybe the whole idea of just easily cherrypicking talent from very distant nations with very different cultures is less workable than naive people think?

                    Edit: you edited your response, I will add something to mine.

                    In capitalism, jobs are commodity. Business really only cares about efficiency, not nationalist sensitivities. For every "American" job taken, there is an "American" boss who gives it away, but that is the point: the boss does not feel any patriotic duty to keep jobs onshore. He is beholden to the bottom line of his business.

                    Edit 2: (this will be a long war of edits). Where did I "rail" against anything? Are you having some stereotype in your head and simply decided that I am a good fit?

                    I literally wrote that fishing for actual talent in India from the outside is hard. Not desirable or undesirable, but hard. That is the result of actual experiences of people around me. I didn't say even a single word about whether it should be done or not.

                    • alephnerd15 hours ago
                      > this will be a long war of edits

                      That's my fault. I abused my HN account instead of using the HN API years ago during a drunken hackathon in the early days of LLMs. As such my replies are rate limited.

                      > without the necessary cultural knowledge you will struggle to spot the red flags that the locals can spot easily

                      I agree. This is why most VC/PE funds have a deep bench of Asian American operators.

                      > In capitalism, jobs are commodity. Business really only cares about efficiency, not nationalist sensitivities. For every "American" job taken, there is an "American" boss who gives it away, but that is the point: the boss does not feel any patriotic duty to keep jobs onshore. He is beholden to the bottom line of his business

                      Absolutely. Hence why I made choices to move offices from SV to Karlin, or moving Brno offices to Delhi. And that's my point. I don't give a shit if I'm hiring in Karlin, Koramangala, Krakow, Capitol Hill (Seattle not DC), ir Cebu (imo the next Bangalore).

                      > Maybe the whole idea of just easily cherrypicking talent from very distant nations with very different cultures is less workable than naive people think

                      It's not that difficult. Most VC/PE funds have a roster of a couple dozen (VC) to couple hundred (Megacap PE) operators we can poach to manage investments. This is why the recent boom in Indian American C-Suites and VPs happened.

                      > Czechs aren't particularly honest people on average

                      Ehn, y'all are honest enough. Czech pragmatism is refreshing after dealing with Germans.

                      ---

                      I think what happened was a mutually heated moment of emotion, but largely we sound aligned (and from personal experience, I have tended to agree with your thoughts somewhat). When I'm back in Praha let's grab some Pivo - I'm a Mliko guy to be honest.

                      • inglor_cz9 hours ago
                        Good morning from Ostrava! Yeah, misunderstanding travels fast and efficient over TCP/IP... especially around midnight.

                        I am not Prague based anymore, but I travel there quite often, so sure, let's grab something to drink when we are both there. My Prague office is actually in Karlín and Karlín was "my" neighbourhood since 1996, when I started studying there. (Back then, it was a veritable dump. Gentrification in action.)

                        " Czech pragmatism is refreshing after dealing with Germans."

                        LOL, that is a common observation I heard often enough, but then again, even the local embassy of Hell would likely feel refreshing after dealing with the Germans :)

                        I will be in Prague from Feb 1 to Feb 5, then again later in February. Looking forward to meet you. Have a mliko if you fancy it, I can't, my body stopped liking it when I was twentysomething. I still like the taste, but the consequences are nasty.

                        "It's not that difficult. Most VC/PE funds have a roster of a couple dozen (VC) to couple hundred (Megacap PE) operators we can poach to manage investments. This is why the recent boom in Indian American C-Suites and VPs happened."

                        Sure, if you can rely on this sort of infrastructure, it won't be hard for ya.

                        But in the context of the EU-India deal that is being discussed here, plenty of us continentals will find that without such infrastructure, it is hard. Just a few weeks ago I sat with a friend from Charles' University who described various funny incidents when dealing with postdoc applications from distant countries, India prominently included.

                        From our local point of view, Western Ukraine is the edge of "intuitive" cultural understanding and anything east of the Dnipro river and south of Bulgaria really needs dedicated people with cultural competence to work.

                        In case of India, the Anglo-Saxons can rely on three centuries of mutual interactions. That helps a lot.

  • dude250711a day ago
    > Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term.

    That should hopefully help increasing the much needed immigration.

    • k4rlia day ago
      The much needed immigration should rather come from countries with similar society and culture to us Europeans, rather than India. Europe couldn't be more different to India and should remain as it was pre-~2014.

      Culturally more similar would be South-America I'd say. Them I wouldn't mind at all.

      • lonesword21 hours ago
        >The much needed immigration should rather come from countries with similar society and culture to us Europeans, rather than India.

        The mass emigration from India is a direct consequence of India's poor wages and living standards. If that was not the case, most people I know (and I myself) wouldn't have emigrated. From what I see[1], the average South American is much better off than the average Indian. Maybe that (and India's huge population) explains why South Americans do not emigrate as much[2] as Indians?

        In other words, people from "countries with similar society and culture to us Europeans" may not want to move to Europe. It's all supply and demand at the end of the day

        [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_net_migra...

    • oytisa day ago
      EU would be stupid to miss the opportunity after US crackdown on H1B.
    • eklavyaa day ago
      I hope for our (India's) sake, it doesn't. We need to keep as much talent here as we can.
      • OutOfHerea day ago
        It's cheapest for the employer to keep it in India itself.
    • a day ago
      undefined
    • alephnerda day ago
      Notice how new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by using immigration as a wedge issue.

      Edit: The BBC article is wrong, as can be seen by the draft reported by Reuters [0]

      [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d...

      • skywal_la day ago
        It's in the BBC's article.
      • Wedge issue? EU youth unemployment is 15%.
        • DesaiAshua day ago
          More entrepreneurs will help with youth unemployment
          • throwaway8582520 hours ago
            Somehow these 'entrepreneurs' only ever end up replacing employment with gig work.
            • 19 hours ago
              undefined
        • izacus17 hours ago
          [flagged]
      • modo_marioa day ago
        What is the BBC article wrong about?
      • bubbia day ago
        [dead]
      • dude250711a day ago
        When asked for my name, I am GitHub Copilot.