The US trade deficit widened in April to its highest level in more than a year as the soaring cost of imported crude oil offset another record-setting month for US exports, a Commerce Department report revealed on Tuesday.

The trade gap in goods and services rose by 7.8 per cent to $60.9bn from a downwardly revised $56.5bn the previous month, representing the biggest increase in more than two years. The US trade deficit is now at its widest since March 2007.