The U.S. trade deficit rose 10.4 percent to $63.9 billion in March as a result of an increase in oil shipments, according to the Commerce Department.

Bloomberg News reported that imports of goods and services rose 4.5 percent in March to $190.1 billion, the biggest increase since November 2002. Imports of industrial supplies, which include petroleum, increased to $49.1 billion from $44.1 billion in February. Exports rose 1.8 percent to $126.2 billion in March, led by record sales of industrial supplies and automobiles.

Analysts had forecast that the trade deficit would widen to $60 billion from $58.4 billion in February.

Meanwhile, the trade deficit with China narrowed to $17.2 billion in March, compared with $18.4 billion a month earlier, as a result of record exports to that country. The United States’ second-largest trading partner announced that it is trying to curtail its trade surplus by easing import restrictions and reducing export incentives.