WASHINGTON — The annual U.S. trade deficit soared to its fifth consecutive record last year, the Commerce Department announced yesterday, adding fuel to a movement in Congress to remake U.S. trade policy.

The Democrats who control Congress, particularly those who campaigned against free trade, called on the Bush administration to remedy a trade deficit that is the cause of "failed businesses, displaced workers, lower real wages and rising inequality."

They said the trade deficit, which rose by $47 billion last year to $764 billion, was responsible for one-third of the 3 million U.S. manufacturing job losses since 2000.

For December, the deficit rose 5.3 percent, to $61.2 billion.

Members of the administration found themselves on the defensive, despite the strong domestic economy, saying their policies and free-trade pacts had stimulated exports and foreign investment.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, traveling in India, issued a statement noting that despite the widening trade gap, U.S. companies sold more goods and services abroad last year than ever before, thanks to agreements dating to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Rep. Jim Saxton of New Jersey, the top Republican member of the Joint Economic Committee, attributed the U.S. trade gap to strong economic growth enabling the United States to consume more than most of its trading partners.

Saxton supports the administration's request that Congress extend the White House's authority to negotiate trade agreements beyond June 30, when it is to expire.

But leading Democrats have vowed to block the trade authority, as well as individual free-trade pacts. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel of New York were among 15 House Democrats who called on the administration yesterday to instead enforce existing trade agreements designed to guarantee fair treatment to U.S. companies.

In particular, they called on the administration to stop China and Japan from maintaining artificially low currency values, thus allowing their goods and services to sell at bargain prices on international markets. They also urged the administration to complain to the World Trade Organization about China's violations of the rights of U.S. patent and copyright holders.

In the Senate, Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., issued a statement urging "tough action to open markets and make sure our trading partners play by the rules." The Finance Committee has jurisdiction over most trade legislation.

Rep. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on trade, will hold hearings today on legislation that would bar the sale of goods made in foreign "sweatshops." He and two other senators, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have introduced legislation to withdraw China's "permanent normal trade relations" status.