Europe's trade deficit widened to the biggest in almost two years in June as a cooling global economy and the euro's advance against the dollar undermined export growth.

The euro region had a seasonally adjusted deficit of 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion), compared with a 1 billion-euro trade gap in May, as imports rose twice as fast as exports, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. The June deficit is the largest since August 2006.

European sales to the U.S., the second-biggest buyer of the region's goods, have fallen this year as economic expansion eased. At the same time, the euro's 9 percent gain against the dollar has eroded export competitiveness. While weaker U.S. demand is crimping euro-area growth, it has been partly countered by exports to China and other Asian nations.

''Demand from the U.S. is very weak and there's a moderation in world activity, which is having an impact on the euro zone,'' said Dominic Bryant, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. ''Elsewhere, China's imports are accelerating and while some emerging markets may be moderating, it's not a sharp slowdown.''

Detailed data for the five months through May show that exports to the U.S. fell 4 percent from the same period a year earlier. Sales to the U.K., the euro region's largest market, rose 2 percent.

Exports to China jumped 15 percent and exports to Russia increased 22 percent over the same period. Trade figures last week from China showed the Asian nation's imports jumped 34 percent in July from a year earlier.

Hochtief AG, Germany's largest builder, on Aug. 14 increased its full-year forecasts on rising demand for construction and mining work in Australia and Asia. Audi AG, Volkswagen AG's luxury-car brand, said its worldwide deliveries rose 2.5 percent in July, led by growth in China and Russia.

Europe's trade deficit with China, which last year overtook the U.K. to become the euro area's biggest supplier, narrowed by 2 percent to 42 billion euros in the five months through May. The trade gap with Russia soared 25 percent to 17.4 billion euros, according to today's report.