By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — An unexpectedly sturdy world economy is likely to shrug off President Donald Trump’s protectionist trade policies this year, thanks partly to a surge of investment in artificial intelligence in North America and Asia, the International Monetary Fund said in a report out Monday.

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The 191-nation lending organization expects that global growth will come in at 3.3% this year, same as in 2025 but up from from the 3.1% it had forecast for 2026 back in October.

The world economy “continues to show notable resilience despite significant US-led trade disruptions and heightened uncertainty,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas and his colleague Tobias Adrian wrote in a blog post accompanying the latest update to the fund’s World Economic Outlook.

The U.S. economy, benefiting from the strongest pace of technology investment since 2001, is forecast to expand 2.4% this year, an upgrade on the fund’s October forecast and on expected 2025 growth — both 2.1%.

China — the world’s second-largest economy — is forecast to see 4.5% growth, an improvement on the 4.2% the IMF had predicted October, partly because a trade truce with the United States has reduced American tariffs on Chinese exports.

India, which as supplanted China as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, is expected to see growth decelerate from 7.3% last year (when it was juiced by an unexpectedly strong second half) to a still-healthy 6.4% in 2026.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs against allies over Greenland is “completely wrong” and a trade war is in no one’s interest.

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Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations, including the U.K., because of their opposition to American control of Greenland, setting up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

The president indicated the tariffs were retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland, which he has said was essential for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system for the U.S. He also has argued that Russia and China might try to take over the island.

Starmer said Britain supports the “fundamental right” of Greenland and Denmark to decide the future of the Arctic island.

Starmer, who has worked to forge a strong relationship with Trump, said the U.K.-U.S. relationship was vital and “we are determined to keep that relationship strong, constructive and focused on results.” But he said that doesn’t mean pretending differences don’t exist.

He said at a news conference in London that “being pragmatic does not mean being passive and partnership does not mean abandoning principles.” But seeking to calm the turmoil, Starmer said Britain will work with allies in Europe, NATO and the United States and “keep dialogue open.”

He indicated that Britain is not planning to consider retaliatory tariffs. “We have not got to that stage. My focus is on making sure we don’t get to that stage,” he said.

Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade.

European Council President Antonio Costa said Sunday that the bloc’s leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.” He is expected to convene a summit of the bloc’s leaders later this week.

Denmark’s defense minister and Greenland’s foreign minister are expected Monday to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels, a meeting that was planned before the latest escalation.

In a statement beforehand, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Denmark and Greenland were “meeting broad support for NATO to do more in the Arctic” and would discuss that with Rutte.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court convicted and sentenced an American on charges of illegally transporting weapons, court officials said Monday.

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The U.S. citizen, identified as Charles Wayne Zimmerman, was handed a 5-year sentence by the court in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi after a rifle was found on his yacht in June. Russian customs officials found the weapon while inspecting it upon arrival in Sochi.

The regional courts’ press service said in a statement that Zimmerman told the court that he traveled to Russia to meet a woman he had previously contacted online. It added that Zimmerman argued that he had bought the gun for self-defense and was unaware that it wasn’t allowed to keep it on his yacht.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials.

Zimmerman is one of a few Americans who remain in Russian custody after a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges with the United States in recent years.

MADRID (AP) — A high-speed train in southern Spain derailed Sunday evening, colliding with another high-speed train and killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 150 others, Spanish authorities reported.

Rescue efforts were still ongoing Monday and officials said the death toll is likely to rise. The accident was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people after a commuter train hurtled off the rails as it came around a bend.

Here’s what to know about the crash:

The derailment and collision

The derailment occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern city, according to rail operator Adif.

The head of the second train took the brunt of the impact, Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid.

On Monday morning, Andalusia’s regional President Juan Manuel Moreno said authorities were searching the area near the accident for possible bodies.

“The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away,” Moreno said.

Officials call accident ‘strange,’ with investigation underway

Explanations about what caused the crash were scant, with an official investigation underway.

Transport Minister Puente called the crash “truly strange” since it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, belonged to Spain’s public train company, Renfe.

Iryo said in a statement Monday that its train was manufactured in 2022 and passed its latest safety check on Jan. 15.

Álvaro Fernández, the president of Renfe, told Spanish public radio RNE that both trains were traveling well under the speed limit of 250 kph and “human error could be ruled out.”

Spain’s expansion of high-speed rail network

Spain has spent decades investing heavily in high-speed trains. It currently has the largest rail network in Europe for trains traveling over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.

The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Sunday’s accident was the first with deaths on Spain’s high-speed rail network since it opened its first line in 1992.