Wildfires forced a mandatory evacuation Sunday in a North Carolina county still recovering from Hurricane Helene, and South Carolina’s governor declared an emergency in response to a growing wildfire in that state. Hundreds of miles north, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service was battling a blaze in the Wharton State Forest.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a mandatory evacuation starting at 8:20 p.m. Saturday for parts of Polk County in western North Carolina about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Charlotte.

“Visibility in area will be reduced and roads/evacuation routes can become blocked; if you do not leave now, you could be trapped, injured, or killed,” the agency said in a social media post.

A shelter had been established in Columbus, North Carolina.

There were three active fires in Polk County, with one spanning 1.9 square miles (5 square kilometers) and another spread over 2.8 square miles (7.3 square kilometers) with no containment by Sunday afternoon. County spokesperson Kellie Cannon said one home was lost to the larger of the two fires.

A third fire that had burned about 199 acres (81 hectares) with 50% containment had destroyed three homes. And earlier evacuation order associated with that fire had been lifted, Cannon said.

Additional mandatory evacuations were ordered for areas of Polk County on Sunday evening, according to a North Carolina Emergency Management social media post.

The North Carolina Forest Service’s online wildfire public viewer indicated active fires Sunday in Burke County and in Stokes County on the northern border with Virginia.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Saturday as emergency crews in Pickens County fought the Table Rock Fire in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“The State of Emergency allows us to mobilize resources quickly and ensure our firefighters have the support they need,” McMaster said in a statement that reinforced a statewide outdoor burning ban issued Friday by the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Local fire officials called for voluntary evacuations Saturday of some residents near Table Rock Mountain, the forestry commission said in a social media post.

That human-caused fire grew to more than 300 acres (121 hectares) with no containment, the commission said Sunday. Spot fires ignited fresh flames outside of the original fire area and the steep terrain was making it hard for heavier equipment used to contain fires to reach the area, officials said. Downed timber from Hurricane Helene was exacerbating the situation. Voluntary evacuations of approximately 100 residences remained in effect Sunday afternoon.

North Carolina’s western region already had been hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. The hurricane damaged or impacted 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) of state-maintained roads and damaged 7,000 private roads, bridges and culverts in North Carolina.

Also this weekend, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has been battling a wildfire that broke out in the Wharton State Forest on Saturday. The fire had consumed about 2.7 square miles (7 square kilometers) as of early Sunday morning and was about 50% contained, according to an 8 a.m. update on the service’s Facebook page.

Emergency officials said they evacuated two campgrounds in the park. Eighteen buildings were near the fire, but the flames were moving away from them and no structures had been evacuated.

The cause of that fire was under investigation.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• In today’s CEO Daily: Peter Vanham talks to Marco Buti, a former European Commission director general, about strategic autonomy from the U.S.
• The big story: Trump’s April 2 tariff deadline approaches.
• The markets: Low volatility, small gains.
• Analyst notes from Goldman Sachs on Germany, JPMorgan on the gender pay gap, and Wedbush on Nvidia, Musk, and Tesla.
• Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. Europe’s defense industry is about to get the boost of a lifetime. With its “ReArm Europe” plan, the European Union is planning to increase defense spending by $865 billion (€800 billion) over the next few years. Last week, the new German government in Berlin piled on, announcing it would lift its government spending limit to allow for $1.08 trillion (€1 trillion) in additional investments, part of which will also go to defense. If it materializes, the consequences for both European and American Fortune 500 defense companies will be huge.

The companies standing to gain the most? Fortune 500 Europe defense giants such as Airbus (No.41 in 2024), BAE Systems (No.140), Safran (No.152), Thales Group (No.194), Rolls Royce (No.205), Leonardo (No.246), and Rheinmetall (No.421)—as European leaders have expressed a clear intention to show a “European preference” in the new spending.

One reason driving this, says Marco Buti, a former director-general for economics and finance at the European Commission, is that Europe is serious about increasing its “strategic autonomy” from the U.S. “It’s about making sure we are in a reasonably good position compared to the [United States],” he said.

Building up a homegrown military-industrial sector also fits into a broader push from Europe to regain competitiveness and dynamism in its economy more broadly. For the past few decades, the bloc trailed both the U.S. and China in growth and innovation, and fell behind in everything from automotive to tech. 

“We have a European growth model which is basically not sustainable,” Buti, who headed the European Commission’s powerful Economic and Financial Department from 2008 to 2019, told me. “It is a growth model that has at the center, Germany, clearly. It is very much export-oriented, and it’s caught in the ‘middle technology’ trap,” meaning it applies, but does not develop, the latest technologies (e.g. German cars running on Google software).

Whether the push will succeed remains to be seen. But a rally has already started among the European Fortune 500 defense stocks. Rheinmetall, for instance, saw a 15-fold increase in its stock price since the Russian invasion in Ukraine, including a doubling since the beginning of the year. It is now more valuable than Volkswagen.

And the ripple effect has started as well. A European tech and AI entrepreneur I met in London last week, who did not want his name used given his existing contractual obligations, told me he’d not seen as much excitement in the European investor and start-up environment since the 1990s.

“It’s the playbook of the U.S. and Israel, basically,” he said, pointing to the other countries where defense spending led to an ecosystem of successful tech companies. As for Europe, he said, “I’m already seeing investors shift to defense, given Europe’s increase in military spending. And if I can find an elegant way to get out of my current company, I’ll start a defense start-up myself.” — Peter Vanham

More news below.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Conservative opponent said U.S. President Donald Trump must respect Canada’s sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns Sunday against the backdrop of a trade war and Trump’s annexation threats.

Carney announced a five-week election campaign before the vote on April 28.

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Carney said.

“President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen,” he added.

The governing Liberals appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared a trade war. He has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and has acknowledged he’s upended Canadian politics.

Trump’s almost daily attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.

“They want our resources. They want our water. They want our land. They want our country. Never,” Carney said at a rally in Newfoundland.

The election campaign for 343 seats or districts in the House of Commons will last 37 days. Although other parties are running, the Liberals and the Conservatives are the only two that have a chance to form a government. The party that commands a majority in Parliament, either alone or with the support of another party, will form the next government and its leader will be prime minister.

Carney replaced Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader following a leadership race.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged. But after decades of bilateral stability, the vote is now expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with Trump.

Carney said the choice for Canadians is a “Canadian Trump or a government that unites.”

“Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney said in a hockey reference. “In this trade war, just like in hockey, we will win.”

Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is Carney’s main challenger. The party and Poilievre were heading for a huge victory in Canada’s election until Trump’s near-daily trade and annexation threats derailed them.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a conservative ally, said Poilievre would be “very much in sync” with the “new direction in America.”

“The content of this interview is very bad news for the Conservatives because it reinforces the Liberals’ narrative about Pierre Poilievre and his perceived ideological proximity with Donald Trump,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Poilievre said he will stand up to Trump.

“I will insist the president recognizes the independence and sovereignty of Canada. I will insist he stops tariffing our nation,” he said as he launched his campaign.

“I know a lot of people are worried, angry and anxious. And with good reason as a result of the president’s unacceptable threats against our country,” Poilievre said.

Carney still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump and that might not happen now until after the election. Trump mocked Trudeau by calling him governor, but he has not yet mentioned Carney’s name.

“Trump must recognize that Canada is a sovereign country,” Carney said. “He has to say that, he has to accept that, before we can have a discussion about a trade agreement. … Let’s just say there is no meeting that has been planned.”

Carney, 60, was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis. In 2013, he became the first noncitizen of the United Kingdom to run the Bank of England, helping to manage the impact of Brexit.

Carney, a political novice, said Canadians want change and he’s moved the Liberal Party to the right, announcing a middle-class tax cut Sunday and scrapping Trudeau’s signature carbon tax and reversing a capital gains tax increase.

Poilievre, 45, for years the party’s go-to attack dog, is a career politician and firebrand populist who says he will put “Canada first.” Elon Musk, who is playing an integral role in the Trump administration, has endorsed and praised him.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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