THE United States trade deficit narrowed slightly in September but was still running well above last year's gap, adding urgency to Obama administration calls for other countries to do more to rebalance global growth.

The US Commerce Department yesterday reported the deficit fell 5.3 percent to US$44 billion in September, as imports retreated slightly while exports edged higher, helped by rising sales of American airplanes and industrial machinery. The deficit was at US$46.5 billion in August.

But even with the slight improvement in September, the US deficit through the first nine months of this year is 40 percent higher than a year ago. The soaring trade deficits are coming at a time of high unemployment in the US and have added pressure on Washington to do more to boost US jobs.

"It is striking that despite the weak economic recovery, the trade deficit has all but doubled since the recession ended," said Paul Dales, US economist at Capital Economics.

For September, US exports of goods and services edged up 0.3 percent to US$154.1 billion, the highest level in two years. Imports, which had been surging in recent months, fell by 1 percent to US$198.1 billion.

The deficit with China dipped slightly to US$27.8 billion in September. Through the first nine months of this year, the trade gap with China is running 21 percent higher than in 2009.

Through September, the overall US trade gap is running higher than the pace set in 2009 when a deep recession had cut sharply into demand by US consumers and businesses for foreign products.

A widening trade deficit has been a big drag on the economy over the past six months, subtracting 3.5 percentage points from overall growth in the second quarter and 2 percentage points in the third quarter when the GDP grew by just 1.7 percent.