The U.S. trade deficit rose 10.3 percent to 108 billion dollars in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The third-quarter figure, which rose from a downwardly revised 98 billion dollars in the second quarter, matched economists' forecasts.
The 108 billion dollar deficit equaled about 3 percent of the overall economy, up from 2.8 percent in the second quarter.
U.S. exports and imports both rose in the quarter, a sign economists believe that the U.S. economy was beginning to recover from the most serious recession since the Great Depression in 1930s.