More than 130,000 autoworkers returned to factories across the U.S. for the first time in nearly two months May 18 in one of the biggest steps yet to restart American industry, while an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus yielded encouraging results in a small and extremely early test.

A Republican fundraiser and political donor from North Carolina who also worked as an executive at XPO Logistics will be the next postmaster general.

Major U.S. automakers are planning to reopen North American factories within two weeks, potentially putting thousands of workers back on the assembly line as part of a gradual return to normality.

New White House guidelines outline a phased approach to restoring normal commerce and services, but only for places with strong testing and seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.

BEIJING — Renault SA said April 14 it will shut down its main China business and focus on electric and commercial vehicles.

The coronavirus outbreak has thrown at least 16.8 million Americans onto the unemployment rolls in just three weeks, underscoring the terrifying speed with which the crisis has brought world economies to a near standstill.

Nissan is recalling more than a quarter-million SUVs, trucks and vans worldwide to replace potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators.

The economic damage from the coronavirus crisis piled up as an unprecedented 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a single week, and the competition for masks and other protective gear intensified amid growing evidence that people who are infected but have no symptoms can spread the virus.

China’s manufacturing rebounded in March as authorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allowed factories to reopen, an official survey showed March 30, but an industry group warned the economy has yet to fully recover.

The North American International Auto Show said that it will cancel its Detroit show because of the coronavirus pandemic and the center where it is held will likely be repurposed into a hospital.