Canada and the United States continue to take diverging paths on trade, as Canada's trade surplus widens while the U.S. posts a higher trade deficit.

Statistics Canada says Canada's April trade balance increased to $5.1 billion, more than economists' had expected. The trade picture was boosted by higher exports of meat and airplanes.

Meanwhile, Statscan revised the March surplus to $4.8 billion because of a 1.4 per cent revision in exports.

Economists had expected a trade surplus of $4.4 billion for the month.

Exports rose to $36.4 billion "as record high levels of meat and meat preparations and solid gains in aircraft and telecommunications equipment offset declines in energy and automotive products," Statscan noted.

In contrast, imports fell to $31.3-billion.

Meanwhile, the U.S. trade deficit soared 12 per cent to US$56.96 billion as oil imports surged to their second-highest level on record. The Commerce Department said both imports and exports set records for the month, but the increase in imports swamped the growth of export shipments.

So far this year, the U.S. trade deficit is running at an annual rate of US$686 billion, up 11 per cent from the level reached for all of 2004.