The U.S. trade gap rose 8.5 percent in April as imports growth outpaced exports, reported the Commerce Department on Tuesday. The total trade deficit increased to about 40.3 billion U.S. dollars in April, up from a revised 37.1 billion dollars in March. Exports rose 2.2 billion dollars, or 1.2 percent, from the previous month to 185.2 billion dollars in April, reflecting more overseas sales of consumer goods, automotive vehicles and capital goods. Imports increased 5.4 billion dollars, or 2.4 percent, from the previous month to 222.3 billion dollars in April. Purchases of foreign capital goods and consumer goods increased. Trade deficit has been a drag of the U.S. economic growth for many years. It subtracted about 0.2 percentage point from growth rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department reported last week