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International business news this morning included a pair of significant stories: an advancement for the UK's AI sector and a significant escalation in international trade disputes.

Google DeepMind's Robotic Science Lab

Google DeepMind revealed intentions to establish its first “automated science laboratory” in the UK. This move is viewed as a significant lift to the nation's artificial intelligence aspirations.

The lab will be mainly dedicated to materials science research. It will utilize “advanced robotics” to create and characterize hundreds of substances each day. The primary goal is to substantially shorten the timeframe for identifying groundbreaking new materials.

The company stated that the lab, scheduled to be built in 2026, will “accelerate research breakthroughs”. They elaborated:

Identifying new materials is a crucial pursuits in science, providing the opportunity to lower expenses and pave the way for entirely new innovations.

To illustrate, materials that conduct electricity without resistance that operate at room conditions could enable low cost diagnostic scans and minimize power loss in power networks. New substances could assist in addressing pressing energy challenges by enabling next-generation batteries, next-generation photovoltaic cells and more efficient computer chips.

The lab is part of a wider partnership with the British government. Under the agreement, British researchers will get special access to a suite of cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools for scientific research.

The Mexican Tariff Move

In a separate development, global trade tensions escalated today after the Mexican Senate approved increased import duties of up to fifty percent next year on imports from China and a number of other Asian countries.

The import duties are designed to bolster domestic industry. They will raise or impose new tariffs of up to 50 percent from 2026 on certain products such as autos, auto parts, textiles, clothing, plastics and steel products.

The measures will affect goods from countries that lack trade deals with Mexico, including China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. Most of products will face tariffs of up to 35%.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry has called out the move, urging its counterpart to rectify “one-sided, protectionist measures” as soon as possible.

Other Market News

Russia's oil and fuel export earnings have hit their lowest level following the start of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022. A global energy watchdog reported that sales fell again in November due to lower export volumes and weaker prices.

In Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank kept its key policy rate unchanged at zero percent. The bank pointed to inflation that was somewhat softer than expected, but added that medium-term price pressures remained largely the same.

The AI sector experienced selling pressure following disappointing earnings from the software giant Oracle. Its stock fell sharply in extended dealing after it fell short of sales and earnings forecasts and raised its spending forecast for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The news raised concerns about the financial returns of substantial AI investments.