diff --git a/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js b/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
index bd0d9a22d5..94c92d9117 100644
--- a/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
+++ b/src/babel/transformation/file/index.js
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ export default class File {
     if (name) {
       if (typeof name === "object" && name.transformer) {
         plugin = name.transformer;
-        position ||= name.position;
+        position = name.position || position;
       } else if (typeof name === "string") {
         // this is a plugin in the form of "foobar" or "foobar:after"
         // where the optional colon is the delimiter for plugin position in the transformer stack