Official figures show that the US trade deficit widened unexpectedly in February as imports of consumer and other goods set a record and grew faster than exports.
The monthly deficit widened to $62.3 billion, from an upwardly revised estimate of $59 billion for January. Wall Street analysts had expected the gap to narrow to $57.5 billion.
Despite slow US economic growth, imports of goods and services rose 3% to $213.7 billion, the Commerce Department report showed.
Meanwhile, US petroleum imports declined in February to $37.7 billion after 11 consecutive monthly increases.
