NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. trade deficit rose to a record $45.96 billion in March as rising oil prices put the gap well beyond Wall Street expectations.
Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the gap, reported by the Commerce Department, would rise to $43.0 billion from $42.1 billion in February. The previous record of $43.5 billion had been reached in the January report.
Exports from the nation actually increased 2.6 percent from February to a record $94.7 billion, as a weaker dollar helped make U.S. goods more competitive overseas.
But imports increased 4.6 percent to $140.7 billion in the month, as the higher oil prices and strengthening retail sales lifted the value of overseas goods bought by Americans. Total oil imports jumped more than 20 percent in March to a record $10.2 billion.
A second government report, this one from the Labor Department, showed that the amount spent on oil imports in April fell slightly, down 0.8 percent from March levels, while overall import prices edged up 0.2 percent in the month. The overall level of export prices rose 0.6 percent in April, according to the same report.
But oil prices have risen steadily since April, topping $40 a barrel the first week of May and again in trading Tuesday and Wednesday.
Economists pointed out that it wasn't just oil widening the trade gap. The signs of strength in the overall U.S. economy are also raising consumer demand for overseas products.
The imports are particularly strong in the consumer goods and capital goods areas, which is further evidence of powerful domestic demand growth," Pierre Ellis, senior international economist with Decision Economics in New York, told Reuters.
Reuters contributed to this report
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