President Donald Trump reportedly is considering an executive order that eventually could fulfill his campaign promise of leveling duties and tariffs on certain trade partners and products.

Reports surfaced Sunday night that Trump's team is weighing an order that would direct government officials to specifically look into whether certain items contributing to America's trade deficits with other countries are tied to the practice of product dumping, which occurs when international companies import a glut of products into a particular market at unnaturally low prices in an attempt to eat up market share and beat out domestic rivals. It's then possible import tariffs could be levied or increased on such products.

Citing "administration sources," Axios reported Sunday that steel and aluminum would be product categories targeted. The outlet also reported that this order – should it indeed result in the introduction of import duties on certain goods – could make some items more expensive for consumers while hurting U.S. companies that rely on cheap imported materials like steel.

However, American companies that produce goods similar to the ones that would be targeted by Trump ultimately could benefit as their international competitors' prices go up.

Trump, as part of his trade-heavy economic agenda, already has sought a review of America's international commerce portfolio to identify where and why deficits exist. He also has demanded stricter efforts to curb dumping, a call with which this separate order would align.

But much is still up in the air about when such an order would be released and how far it would go. Axios reported Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is leading the charge, but that final details had yet to be ironed out.

Reuters, meanwhile, cited an administration official as saying the results of any investigation following the potential order – such as import duties – would depend on what the review found and would not be the result of "predetermined conclusions."

The reports are notable in that China is the world's largest producer of both steel and aluminum, so Trump's order – though it may not be specifically designed to hurt Chinese trade interests – undoubtedly would send ripples to Beijing. The news also comes only days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss, among other things, future trade relations between the two countries.

The U.S.-Chinese delegations at the summit agreed to a 100-day time frame for discussions on tweaking the countries' trade relationship, with goals reportedly of increasing American companies' access to the relatively isolated Chinese consumer market and mitigating America's deficit with China, which accounts for a significant portion of the overall U.S. trade deficit.

China already is wililng to more broadly open its market to U.S. financial investments and beef exports, according to the Financial Times, while more changes to the two countries' trade relationship could be forthcoming.

Trump and his team described last week's Mar-a-Lago meeting as productive, which was notable given the amount of tension thought to be at play as Xi traveled to Florida to meet with a new president who has threatened to level steep tariffs against Beijing and label China a currency manipulator while out on the campaign trail.

And while it appears the two were able to make it through their inaugural meeting without any significant public gaffes, Trump has left the threat of trade action on the table.