The U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $38.7 billion in December from a revised $34.6 billion in November. Economists had expected a deficit of $36.0 billion.

The wider than expected trade deficit was partly due to a notable pullback in the value of exports, which dropped 1.8 percent to $191.3 billion in December after climbing 0.8 percent to a record high of $194.8 billion in November.

At the same time, the report said the value of imports edged up by 0.3 percent to $230.0 billion in December after sliding 1.3 percent to $229.4 billion in the previous month.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the December trade data will probably reduce the estimate for fourth quarter GDP growth by about 0.2 percentage points to 3.3 percent.

"Nevertheless, it doesn't change the broader story that exporters had a pretty good fourth quarter, while imports were close to stagnant," Ashworth said.

He added, "Furthermore, despite the rebound in December, the bigger picture is still that the trade deficit is trending gradually lower as rising domestic oil production reduces America's reliance on imported oil."

The Commerce Department said the goods deficit widened to $58.8 billion in December from $54.2 billion in November, while the services surplus crept up to $20.1 billion from $19.7 billion.

The report also showed that the trade deficit with China narrowed to $24.5 billion in December from $26.9 billion in November.

For 2013, the U.S. recorded a trade deficit of $471.5 billion compared to a deficit of $534.7 billion in 2012. The deficit was the smallest since 2009.

RTTNews