A huge EU-India deal, Heated Rivalry, and a hefty $200k to Olympians

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0:41This is the Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Darian Woods. And joining us from Planet Money is Kenny Millen. I love being here for Indicators of the Week. One day we'll get it all at the same time. One day. So on today's show, we have a seismic trade deal between India and the European Union. We have all the hot hockey romance a New Yorker could ever want. And listen, Olympians, I hope you're doing plenty of squats because you're going to be lifting a heavy bag for participating in this year's games and future games. Very intriguing. That's coming up after the break. Did I use bag right, everyone?

1:20Can you help me? I'm not young and never have been.

1:29Indicators of the Week, Darian Woods, you're up first. So my indicator of the week is 25 % of global GDP. And that's because the European Union just signed a trade deal with India that makes a trading block covering nearly one quarter of the world's economic output. The world is busy banding together in the face of the U.S. behaving kind of, how do you say, erratically? Well, there are a couple of caveats here. First of all, this deal has been in development for about 20 years. So to tie it to President Trump is a bit of a stretch. That said, an EU diplomat told the BBC that Trump's tariffs were a useful tailwind in the homestretch to get the deal agreed.

2:11Useful tailwind is a euphemism I will be using for forever. That is excellent. I'm trying to think about these negotiators. How much turnover has there been? Is it the original team from 20 years ago or has it fully turned over? It's probably a long invite list to the celebrations. But, you know, hold off on the tariff-free champagne because the second caveat is that the deal still needs to be ratified. That means that India's cabinet, the European Union Parliament and EU member countries still need to approve it. So even if all that goes smoothly, it probably won't take effect until next year.

2:49This is a multi-decade process. It's very old school. I mean, hasn't Trump shown that deals can be made in weeks, 20 years? What is that? Yeah, deals can be struck faster. That is certainly true. But, you know, Trump has also shown how fast shotgun deals can unravel. Case in point, we had a deal with South Korea last year. And then a couple of days ago, Trump threatened them with more tariffs. So it looks like not a great deal after all. Yeah, he's claiming its legislature isn't living up to that deal. So are we then to believe that the slower moving the trade deal is, like this one, between the EU and India, that it perhaps will be more durable?

3:26Is that what you're insinuating here? Yeah, I think so. So I'll give you an example, which is the automotive industry. India wants to protect its car companies, but the EU wants to sell cars to India. How does India let in more European cars into the country without hurting its politically vocal automotive industry? India agreed to lower its really high tariffs on vehicles down to 10%. But those low tariffs would only apply for 250 ,000 vehicles a year. So it's politically manageable for the Indian government. It's easing the door open and not just opening the floodgates and risking a backlash.

4:05All right. So cross-borders negotiations done slowly. Waylon, you got any more cross-borders content for us? I suspect you do. I do, I do. Yes, yes. My indicator is zero days. That is the wait time for checking out the e-book of Heated Rivalry if you're a New York Public Library cardholder. Heated Rivalry is part of a six-book romance series by Canadian author Rachel Reid. There's your cross-cultural content. These are queer hockey romances. Heated Rivalry is the basis of a TV series that first aired in Canada and then crossed over and became a huge hit on HBO Max here in the States. I bet a lot of people are wanting to read this book after seeing the show.

4:49A prime example of someone who watched the series and then really wanted to read the book was Brian Bannon. He is the chief librarian at the New York Public Library. I watched the series and was really taken with it. You know, I was a gay athlete in college. Hockey? Or what did you play? I was a rower. Actually, I was also a swimmer. And so I watched the series and then I immediately started wanting to read the books. It was a number of months. Wait time. I mean, it's frustrating that there's even a holds list at all because digital things can be copied unlimited for free. Yeah. So this is what's interesting about what the New York Public Library is doing.

5:23Libraries do not purchase e-books outright the way they buy physical media. They have to buy a license for an e-book. And the licenses come with terms. For example, maybe a title can only be lent out a certain number of times. Brian told me that with the Heated Rivalry license, the library pays each time someone checks it out. And right now, New York Library cardholders can check out any of the books in the series instantly through Valentine's Day. Oh, wow. Cha-ching. So you can imagine this bill because Heated Rivalry has been checked out more than 5 ,000 times since they announced this promotion.

5:59And that's for Heated Rivalry alone. There's five other books in this series. Brian didn't have kind of the number with him when we talked for the final price tag, but I imagine it's pretty hefty. What if this bankrupts the New York Public Library? Brian assured me that they have good budget planning and that they think this is good. It's a good business for the library when they take advantage of these hot titles because something like 2 ,000 people signed up for a library card over the weekend. That's like double what would happen in a normal weekend. So it's like they want to get people reading.

6:31They want to get people signed up for the library. So it's all good. I think. I love it. I'd love to keep it in the sports world and the money world for one more indicator, if you will. My indicator is$200 ,000. And that is the amount of money U.S. Olympians and Paralympians will now get if they compete thanks to a private donor. Win or lose. Win or lose. Okay. And you're saying in addition to bonuses because they do get money when they win a medal, right? Yes, yes. Famously, Olympic winners get all kinds of stuff from their home countries. Shout out the Wall Street Journal for a great recap on some of these.

7:08Poland gives its winners investment grade diamonds. South Koreans get out of military service. When Indonesians won badminton gold, one got a house and cows and both were promised a chain meatball restaurant. A chain meatball restaurant? I'm saying. But the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, not as interesting, perhaps more useful. They give athletes, or have given athletes, around$37 ,000 for gold and then less for the other medals. But this$200 ,000 that we're talking about, it is not that. This comes from a new$100 million donation from Ross Stevens, who founded a big financial services company.

7:46Big donor. He must really love the Olympics. He does love the Olympics, Darian. Do you not? Have you donated for your Olympians in New Zealand? I have not donated anything to my Olympians. Well, there you go. Good for him. I do think the most interesting thing about this is how this 200 grand is going to pay out. So the Olympian or Paralympian is going to get half the money, so 100K, when they turn 45 or 20 years after the Olympic appearance, whichever one comes later. And then the other 100K goes to their family or beneficiaries when the athlete dies. So... It's hard to use that money from beyond the grave.

8:21Well, so this is more of like a retirement or kind of like an inheritance for like end of life kind of thing. I mean, exactly end of life kind of thing for half of it. In fact, the funder, Ross Stevens, has said that this is about addressing financial insecurity for the athletes representing our country. And athletes would get this money each time they compete in the Olympics or Paralympics. And, you know, unlike many other countries, there is no government funding to reward our Olympic team. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee relies on this kind of philanthropy, plus corporate sponsorships, plus selling broadcast rights to fund itself.

8:56And this$100 million donation is the largest donation they've ever received. Wow. Not a lifetime supply of meatballs, but it'll do. I'm surprised that the meatballs didn't come from the Swedish government. You said this was Indonesia. I will say. I wasn't thinking about being good enough at something to be an Olympian, but, you know, maybe I will now. Maybe I will. Now you have a strong economic incentive to get really good at a sport. Cross-country skiing and shooting things from a distance. That's the biathlon, correct? Is that the one? That is the biathlon, yeah. That's what's going to butter my bread, I think.

9:31Yeah. Well, thank you, Kenny. I'm proud to have known you before your Olympic fame. But yeah, all the best. I don't know how to do a biathlon sign off, but that seems right. That was good foley. I liked it. This episode was produced by Angel Carreras and engineered by Jimmy Keeley It was fact-checked by Vito Emanuel and Julia Ritchie and edited by Kate Kincannon The Indicator is a production of NPR