President-elect Donald Trump’s economic team is weighing escalating tariffs slowly, month by month in order to maintain trade negotiating leverage and avoid a spike in inflation, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

One proposal would increase tariffs by 2% to 5% a month under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The concept is in the early phases and has not been presented to Trump, the sources said.

Advisers working on the scheme include Scott Bessent, Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary; Kevin Hassett, nominee for director of the National Economic Council; and Stephen Miran, set to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.

Hassett and a spokesman for Bessent did not reply to a Boomberg request for comment. Miran declined comment.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said he would impose minimum tariffs of 10% to 20% on all imported goods, raising that to 60% or higher on products from China.

While there have been reports that Trump might dial back those harsh tariffs, he has denounced them as false.

Markets have been jittery on speculation about Trump tariffs, with the S&P 500 Index on Monday dropping below the level it was on Nov. 5, just ahead of Trump’s election.

Investors have been selling U.S. Treasury bonds on fears of inflation being stoked by Trump trade policies. All of this has been creating a headwind for stocks.

As for China’s yuan and other currencies sensitive to it, they strengthened on news that the Trump team might temper tariffs. The offshore yuan was up 0.1% in Asia Tuesday, while the Australian dollar climbed 0.3%.