🔗 Share this article The Tech Giant's DeepMind Plans to Construct Automated Science Laboratory in the UK; Mexico Approves Fifty Percent Import Duties on Some Nations Worldwide economic developments this morning featured two significant stories: an advancement for British artificial intelligence sector and a significant escalation in global trade tensions. Google DeepMind's Robotic Research Lab Google DeepMind stated plans to construct its inaugural “robotic research facility” in the UK. This decision is considered a significant lift to the nation's artificial intelligence ambitions. The lab will be mainly dedicated to materials science research. It will leverage “world-class robotics” to synthesize and characterize many hundreds of materials daily. The key objective is to dramatically reduce the timeline for discovering transformative new materials. The company stated that the lab, set to be constructed in 2026, will “help turbocharge scientific discovery”. They elaborated: Discovering new materials is a crucial endeavors in scientific research, providing the opportunity to reduce costs and enable entirely new technologies. As an illustration, superconductors that operate at ambient conditions could enable low cost medical imaging and minimize power loss in power networks. Other novel materials could assist in addressing pressing energy issues by enabling next-generation batteries, more efficient photovoltaic cells and more efficient semiconductors. The lab is part of a wider partnership with the UK government. Under the agreement, UK scientists will get special access to a suite of cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools for scientific research. Mexico's Trade Move In another development, global trade frictions escalated further after Mexico's Senate passed tariff hikes of as high as 50% starting in 2026 on imports from China and several other Asian-Pacific nations. The new levies are designed to bolster domestic industry. They will apply new duties of up to 50% from next year on specific products such as automobiles, auto parts, textiles, clothing, plastic goods and steel products. The measures will affect imports from nations that lack trade deals with Mexico, including China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. Most of products will see duties of around thirty-five percent. China's Ministry of Commerce has called out the decision, urging its counterpart to rectify “one-sided, protectionist practices” as soon as possible. Additional Business News Moscow's energy export revenues reached their lowest level following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A global energy watchdog reported that sales declined again in the last month due to reduced export volumes and weaker prices. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank kept interest rates on hold at 0%. Officials cited price increases that was somewhat softer than anticipated, but added that medium-term price pressures remained largely the same. Technology stocks faced pressure following weaker-than-expected earnings from the software giant Oracle. Its stock fell sharply in extended dealing after it fell short of sales and profit forecasts and raised its expenditure forecast for artificial intelligence infrastructure. This raised concerns about the profitability of substantial spending on AI.