US government figures show that the US trade deficit widened 9.3% in November to a bigger than expected $63.1 billion, mainly due to surging crude oil costs.
The US trade gap swelled to its worse level since September 2006, according to the Commerce Department. Imports rose 3% to $205.4 billion as exports increased 0.4% to $142.3 billion.
October's deficit was $57.8 billion, and this had also widened from the previous month due to higher oil prices.
For the first 11 months of 2007 the deficit was $650 billion, compared with $698 billion during the same period of 2006.
Hopes that the deficit would narrow in 2007 have been stymied by spiking oil prices and the price America, the world's biggest energy importer, has to pay to import oil.
The price of imported oil struck a record $79.65 a barrel in November, lifting the petroleum deficit to $30 billion, its highest level on record.
The enlarged petroleum deficit was somewhat offset by lower imports of commodities and consumer goods, but the lower imports for these categories still failed to stop the overall deficit widening significantly late last year.
China's rising economic might continued to account for a hefty chunk of the US deficit, despite a narrowing of the US trade gap with China to $24 billion. The deficit with the EU narrowed 12.6% to $10.4 billion, partly because a strong euro dented demand for EU-made goods.
