Good morning. The United States and Britain have reached a trade agreement, but the British are still facing 10-per-cent tariffs on most exports. The announcement will surely be studied closely by Ottawa and other world leaders who seek tariff relief.

In the meantime, Canada is looking to Europe to spice up our trade relationships. More on that below, but first:

Economy: The Bank of Canada has warned that Donald Trump‘s aggressive tariff policy poses a risk to financial stability and potential market dysfunction.

Telecom: BCE Inc. slashed its dividend by more than half and struck a partnership for its U.S. expansion, after a tumultuous period for Canada’s biggest telecom company.

Energy: Ontario’s Darlington SMR project to cost nearly $21-billion – a price far greater than independent observers deem necessary for widespread adoption.

We have a pope: Robert Francis Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV, the first American to hold papacy in Catholic Church’s history.

Death doulas are on the rise for end-of-life care to assist families through dying, grief and everything in between, including estate-planning.

• For who: As a larger portion of Canada’s population ages, alternative levels of support are in demand: not just emotional support, doulas help clients articulate their wishes for their final days and beyond.
• For how much: Many doulas offer sliding-scale fees or occasional pro bono work. Michelle Leray has been certified since 2020 for example, charges $140 an hour for one-off sessions, and between $60 and $100 an hour for continuing care.
• Quoted: “A lot of people assume that my work is either very morbid or depressing … But honestly, it‘s quite the opposite. It‘s incredibly empowering. It helps you live more fully when you prepare for your eventual death.”

I’m Paul Waldie, The Globe’s Europe Correspondent, based in London, and for years I’ve watched various Canadian prime ministers talk about diversifying Canada’s trade away from the United States and toward Europe.

I was in Brussels in 2016 when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau signed the Canada-EU trade agreement, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement or CETA. It was billed as one of the most far-reaching trade deals ever negotiated and hailed as a major boon to Canadian businesses.

But CETA failed to gain much traction in Canada – until now.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his continuing threat to annex Canada have caused Canadian companies to finally look beyond their southern neighbour and at Europe.

Canadian businesses have been flocking to major trade shows in Europe this spring, looking for new customers. And many are finding new opportunities especially as European governments ramp up their spending on defence.

What struck me recently was an interview I had with Bruce Dunlop, a regional vice-president at Export Development Canada who is based in London. He used to get called maybe once a month by a Canadian company looking for information about CETA and Europe. Now, he’s fielding calls every day. “People are seeing this and going, ‘We need to do something differently,’ ” he said.

At one coming trade show – VivaTech in Paris – representatives from around 500 Canadian companies will take part, including many who have only recently turned their attention to Europe.

I spoke with Isabelle Turcotte who is a vice-president at Scale AI, a Montreal-based non-profit innovation cluster, about VivaTech, which takes place next month. “I would say that some of them didn’t have plans to go to Europe that quickly,” she said of the delegation. “Probably they were going to the States first, as we normally do. But some of them have changed their plan and are saying, ‘Okay, maybe we should go and test Europe first.’ ”

Europe is still a stretch for many Canadian companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses. That’s what Chris Wyatt of Hamilton-based Kubes Steel Inc. told me.

Kubes makes custom products that involve bended and rolled steel, which are used in everything from roller coasters to railways, medical equipment and mining. Up to 80 per cent of the company’s products go to U.S. customers.

Wyatt set up a booth at the Hannover Messe trade show in Hannover, Germany this spring. It was the first time the company had a booth at the show but Wyatt came home somewhat disappointed. Most potential customers in Europe could source similar products locally and being so far away was a disadvantage.

Kubes has done work in Britain – their steel was used in the façade of the new U.S. embassy in London. And he’s still hopeful that some indirect contracts could emerge from the increase in European defence spending.