Data released Wednesday morning by the Commerce Department showed that U.S. imports of goods and services grew 6.6 percent to a record $4.1 trillion, as Americans bought large amounts of auto parts, weight-loss drugs, computers and food from other countries.

Japan posted a trade deficit in January as rising exports to the US were outweighed by record-high imports. The Finance Ministry says the shortfall exceeded 2.7 trillion yen, or more than 18 billion dollars. That's the first such deficit in two months and the third-largest on record for the month of January.

India said on Monday that bilateral merchandise trade with the United States has increased by about 8% to more than $106 billion in the ten months through January and a proposed trade pact between the two countries will further benefit both.