New York (CNN Business) President Donald Trump's tariffs were supposed to shrink America's trade deficit, but it has instead grown for five straight months and is on track to hit a record high before the end of the year.

a US Census The monthly goods deficit grew by $1 billion in October, according toa US Census report released Wednesday.

The Census report is one of the first measures of trade released since Trump imposed his biggest round of tariffs in September on $200 billion of Chinese goods . It put a 10% tax on goods ranging from luggage to bikes and baseball gloves. Trump has threatened to increase the rate to 25% on January 1.

The duties make it more expensive for US importers to buy those items, but Americans bought more goods from abroad in October than they did the month before. The figure may reflect stockpiling by American importers ahead of an additional hike in tariffs set to take effect in January, as well as strong consumer spending.

"There is some anecdotal evidence that US importers are likely pulling forward orders to get ahead of additional tariffs on Chinese goods, which could be one of the factors driving imports higher in recent months," said Pooja Sriram, an economist at Barclays.

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