WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US President Donald Trump's administration is weighing a plan that would impose new tariffs on imported vehicles on national security grounds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (May 23).

The administration is considering starting a probe of imported cars under a legal provision known as Section 232, possibly applying tariffs at the end, the Journal reported, citing industry officials briefed on broad outlines of the plan.

The Trump administration is currently considering tariffs of up to 25 per cent, the Journal said.

The plan remains in its early stages, and is likely to face significant opposition from a number of interest groups, from foreign trading partners to domestic dealers of imported cars, the newspaper added.

Trump has already imposed hefty import tariffs on steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the 1962 US Trade Expansion Act, which allows safeguards based on "national security."