Rising oil prices widened the U.S. deficit in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The value of imports surpassed those of exports by $36.5 billion US, a rise of 18.2 per cent and the most in nearly a year.

Boeing manufacturing plant Aircraft, autos and industrial machinery helped the U.S. to increase exports in September (The Boeing Company)

Still, exports were up 2.9 per cent to $132 billion, their fifth monthly increase. The biggest gains were in sales of autos, aircraft and industrial machinery.

Imports rose 5.8 per cent to $168.4 billion, pushed up by a 20.1 per cent increase in oil prices, which rose to their highest levels in nearly a year.

That benefited Canada, the No. 1 supplier of U.S. petroleum imports, with sales of two million barrels a day to the U.S.

The trade deficit for the first nine months of this year now totals $366 billion. That's about half its level for all of last year.

The deficit with China rose 9.2 per cent to $22.1 billion, the highest imbalance in 10 months.