The US trade gap rose to 40.3 billion dollars from a revised 40.0 billion dollars in March, the Commerce Department said.

The reading was smaller than the 41.3 billion dollars expected by most analysts.

Both exports and imports slipped by less than one percentage point.

April exports dipped to 148.8 billion dollars and imports to 189.1 billion dollars.

Trade volumes which had been picking up amid the global economic recovery slowed for the first time in 10 months.

The volume of US international trade of goods and services fell by 0.5 percent to 337.9 billion dollars.

"Export and import trends are still pointing higher, although the pace of growth is slowing after the big bounce-back in the second half of 2009," said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.

Gault noted that steep declines in both export and import volumes "should be viewed as corrections after very sharp increases in March."

The politically sensitive US deficit with China expanded by 14.3 percent to 19.3 billion dollars.

The trade figures came as China reported its May exports soared 48.5 percent from a year ago, suggesting the US gap may have expanded sharply again last month.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, meanwhile, criticized China's refusal to allow its currency to appreciate amid pressure from Congress to impose sanctions on the Asian giant.

Critics say that China maintains the yuan undervalued to gain an unfair trade advantage.

"The distortions caused by China's exchange rate spread far beyond China's borders and are an impediment to the global rebalancing we need," Geithner told a congressional hearing on the US-China economic relationship.

The US Business and Industry Council accused President Barack Obama's administration of failing to address China's threat to the economy.

"Secretary Geithner and the rest of the Obama administration remain in deep and dangerous denial about the nation's job- and growth-destroying China trade crisis," Alan Tonelson, council research fellow, said in a statement.

Petroleum imports dipped to 24.0 billion dollars from 24.5 billion in March.

"The stabilization reflects the overall satiation in supply and the 7.1-billion-dollar decline in gasoline consumption," Briefing.com analysts said in a note to clients.

They pointed out that "the uneasiness in April's consumption data was confirmed in the trade numbers."

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of US economic activity, was flat in April after six months of gains as consumers worried about high unemployment and the fragile recovery from recession.

Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics said the trade rebound appeared to be slowing and would dampen second-quarter growth in gross domestic product, the country's output of goods and services.

"At this point it is too soon to take a firm view of the likely impact of trade on second-quarter GDP, but for now we guess it will be a modest drag on growth."

The US trade deficit with Canada, its largest trading partner, widened 35.2 percent to 2.94 billion dollars.

The gap with Mexico, the second-largest export destination and third-largest import source, narrowed 11.9 percent to 5.3 billion dollars.

The gap with Japan, the world's second-largest economy, declined 9.4 percent to 4.8 billion dollars.

The deficit narrowed sharply with the 16-nation eurozone, falling 29.3 percent to 4.8 billion dollars.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News