Official data on the United States' exports and imports in May showed further widening of the trade deficit with China, but the figures also signaled shifts in the world's two biggest economies, with implications for global growth.

According to the Commerce Department, the US in May imported $45 billion more in goods and services than it sent abroad. Weak global demand, including from slower-growing China, pushed US exports down.

But the bigger-than-expected monthly jump in the trade deficit was also fueled by higher imports, mostly from China.