The US trade deficit in goods widened sharply in January, most likely as businesses front-loaded imports ahead of tariffs, potentially positioning trade to be a drag on economic growth in the first quarter, Reuters reports.

The goods trade gap surged 25.6% to $153.3 billion last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Friday.

That shatters the most recent goods trade gap record of $122 billion set the previous month, reports Axios.

Exports of goods for January were $172 billion, $3.3 billion more than December.

Goods imports, meanwhile, were $325 billion, an increase of $35 billion from December.