Good morning. China is “laughing” at the tensions between America and its allies, an EU diplomat said. There could be severe global fallout from a trade war, warns the European Central Bank. And the two stranded astronauts in space may come home next week. Listen to the day’s top stories.

China stands to gain from the ongoing trade wars between the US and its allies, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Bloomberg Television. “Who is laughing on the side or looking at the side is China,” she said. “It’s really benefiting from the US having a trade war with Europe.”

Gilles Roth, Luxembourg's finance minister, left, and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), right, at a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, Belgium, March 10. Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that an escalation of disputes over trade levies may have a detrimental effect on the world economy. In a BBC interview, Lagarde said that Donald Trump’s decisions are “causing a level of uncertainty that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

The EU is nearing an agreement to extend sanctions on individual Russians, including a number of billionaires, after Hungary dropped its opposition. The bloc started the procedure to pave the way to lengthen the measures for six months after three names were de-listed, as requested by Budapest, people familiar with the matter said.

Mark Carney. Photographer: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty

Mark Carney, who will be sworn in today as Canada’s 24th prime minister, plans to meet President Emmanuel Macron in France on Monday, before heading to the UK to visit Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The former Bank of England governor is expected to talk to Donald Trump in the coming days.

The UK announced it would provide loans totaling £2 billion to allied governments to buy from British defense companies. The extra lending capacity will be targeted toward firms exporting missiles, aircraft and armored vehicles, the Treasury said.

Deep Dive: Population Crisis

Croatia's population has plummeted by a fifth since 1991, mirroring Eastern Europe's demographic crisis.

• To combat this, the government plans to spend €769 million in 2026 on its biggest "baby package" yet, while grappling with the complexities of accepting foreign workers to fill labor gaps.
• The fall in Croatia isn’t even the steepest in Eastern Europe—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Lithuania—have all experienced greater declines. 

The Big Take

Opinion

The North Sea crash doesn’t have to echo the Deepwater Horizon incident, Lara Williams writes. But although we probably won’t see oil-slicked seabirds this time, that doesn’t mean damage hasn’t been done.

Before You Go

Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams back in June 2024. Photographer: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP

Stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have to wait a bit longer to return to Earth. NASA now pegs their arrival on terra firma to Wednesday at the earliest.

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