Peace Push | Trump said it might be necessary to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a little while” before brokering a peace deal and that he might slap sanctions on both countries if he determined the conflict wasn’t going to end. “You see it in hockey, you see it in sports, the referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart,” he said during the Merz meeting. Military Build-Up | NATO members signed off on new capability targets, heralding the military alliance’s most ambitious ramp-up since the Cold War. It sets the stage for a leaders’ summit later in June in The Hague, where allies are expected to agree on a new 5% defense spending goal. On Target | The European Central Bank is coming to the end of its campaign of interest-rate cuts following the eighth reduction in a year yesterday, according to President Christine Lagarde. Her description of an economy with stable at-target inflation, sustained if lackluster growth and a healthy banking system means that almost everything she can influence appears to be going right. Full Term | Lagarde was also quizzed about speculation she could leave her post early for a job at the World Economic Forum. “I regret to tell you that you’re not about to see the back of me,” she told reporters in Frankfurt. Tariff Firepower | The EU’s power to impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods and services won a legal boost from an adviser to the bloc’s top court. The ECJ’s Advocate General said lighter maker Zippo’s challenge against the bloc’s 2020 duties could be dismissed. |