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International economic news this morning included two significant developments: an advancement for the UK's AI sector and a notable escalation in international trade tensions.

Google DeepMind's Automated Research Laboratory

Google DeepMind has announced plans to establish its inaugural “automated science laboratory” in the UK. This move is seen as a boost to the country's AI aspirations.

The lab will be mainly focused on materials science research. It will utilize “cutting-edge robotics” to create and characterize hundreds of materials each day. The key objective is to significantly reduce the timeframe for discovering revolutionary new materials.

The company stated that the lab, set to be constructed in 2026, will “help turbocharge research breakthroughs”. They elaborated:

Identifying new materials is a crucial pursuits in science, which could lead to lower expenses and enable completely novel innovations.

For example, superconductors that operate at ambient temperature and pressure could enable low cost diagnostic scans and minimize energy loss in electrical grids. New substances could assist in addressing critical energy challenges by enabling next-generation batteries, next-generation solar cells and higher-performance semiconductors.

This initiative is one element in a wider partnership with the UK government. As part of the deal, British researchers will get special access to a suite of advanced AI tools for scientific research.

The Mexican Tariff Decision

In another story, international trade frictions escalated further after Mexico's Senate approved increased import duties of up to fifty percent starting in 2026 on goods from the People's Republic of China and a number of other Asian-Pacific countries.

The import duties are meant to protect local industry. They will apply new duties of as much as 50% from 2026 on specific products such as automobiles, vehicle components, fabrics, clothing, plastic goods and steel.

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

The Chinese Commerce Ministry has called out the move, calling on its counterpart to rectify “one-sided, protectionist measures” promptly.

Additional Business Updates

Russia's oil and fuel export revenues reached their lowest level following the start of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022. The International Energy Agency stated that sales declined again in November due to lower export volumes and weaker prices.

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 0%. Officials cited inflation that was slightly lower than anticipated, but added that medium-term price pressures remained virtually unchanged.

Technology stocks faced pressure after weaker-than-expected earnings from the software giant Oracle. The company's stock slid in after-hours dealing after it missed revenue and earnings forecasts and raised its expenditure outlook for AI data centers. The news fueled worries about the financial returns of heavy spending on AI.