Exports of goods and services grew to a record $97.5 billion in September, marking a 0.8 percent increase from the previous month.
Imports, meanwhile, dipped by 0.8 percent in September from August to $149 billion. Even with the drop, imports of goods and services were still the second-best on record.
America's politically sensitive trade deficit with China hit a record $15.5 billion as imports from the country also reached an all-time high.
Separately, new claims for jobless benefits rose last week by 2,000 to 333,000, the Labor Department said. Even with the increase, the level of claims pointed to a recovery in the jobs market, analysts said.
President Bush says the best way to handle the trade deficits is to get other countries to remove trade barriers and open their markets.
But critics, including Democrats and trade unions, argue that the president's free-trade policies aren't working and have contributed to job losses. Senator Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said of the trade deficit that "this is a very serious long-term abiding problem that gets virtually no notice from this administration and very little notice from this Congress."
