Chinese virus cases climb, raise threat of trade disruption

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Anti-virus controls have forced auto and electronics makers to shut factories in China and are raising risks of wider disruptions if the curbs spread to Chinese ports that are among the world’s busiest. Stock markets were rattled by the shutdown of Shenzhen in the south, a tech and finance hub, and Changchun, an auto center in the northeast. Controls on access to Shanghai were tightened. Economists say smartphone makers and other industries can use factories and suppliers in other parts of China. But a bigger threat looms if controls are extended to nearby ports that link Chinese factories at the center of global manufacturing networks with foreign suppliers and markets.