diff --git a/dvc/commands/ls/__init__.py b/dvc/commands/ls/__init__.py
index d409d7ec22..190a5918d3 100644
--- a/dvc/commands/ls/__init__.py
+++ b/dvc/commands/ls/__init__.py
@@ -109,8 +109,6 @@ def _build_tree_structure(
 
 
 def show_tree(entries, with_color=False, with_size=False, with_hash=False):
-    import tabulate
-
     rows = _build_tree_structure(
         entries,
         with_color=with_color,
@@ -119,13 +117,7 @@ def show_tree(entries, with_color=False, with_size=False, with_hash=False):
     )
 
     colalign = ("right",) if with_size else None
-
-    _orig = tabulate.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE
-    tabulate.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE = True
-    try:
-        ui.table(rows, colalign=colalign)
-    finally:
-        tabulate.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE = _orig
+    ui.table(rows, colalign=colalign, preserve_whitespace=True)
 
 
 class CmdList(CmdBaseNoRepo):
diff --git a/dvc/ui/__init__.py b/dvc/ui/__init__.py
index 260e945fc3..2df6ab45cc 100644
--- a/dvc/ui/__init__.py
+++ b/dvc/ui/__init__.py
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ def error_console(self) -> "RichConsole":
 
         return console.Console(stderr=True)
 
-    def table(
+    def table(  # noqa: PLR0913
         self,
         data: "TableData",
         headers: Optional["Headers"] = None,
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ def table(
         row_styles: Optional[Sequence["Styles"]] = None,
         borders: Union[bool, str] = False,
         colalign: Optional[tuple[str, ...]] = None,
+        preserve_whitespace: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         from dvc.ui import table as t
 
@@ -329,6 +330,7 @@ def table(
             pager=pager,
             force=force,
             colalign=colalign,
+            preserve_whitespace=preserve_whitespace,
         )
 
     def status(self, status: str, **kwargs: Any) -> "Status":
diff --git a/dvc/ui/table.py b/dvc/ui/table.py
index f0156d266b..156b7fdfae 100644
--- a/dvc/ui/table.py
+++ b/dvc/ui/table.py
@@ -30,19 +30,37 @@ def plain_table(
     pager: bool = False,
     force: bool = True,
     colalign: Optional[tuple[str, ...]] = None,
+    preserve_whitespace: bool = False,
 ) -> None:
+    import tabulate as tabulate_mod
     from funcy import nullcontext
+    from packaging.version import Version
     from tabulate import tabulate
 
-    text: str = tabulate(
-        data,
-        headers if headers is not None else (),
-        tablefmt="github" if markdown else "plain",
-        disable_numparse=True,
-        # None will be shown as "" by default, overriding
-        missingval="-",
-        colalign=colalign,
-    )
+    # NOTE: tabulate 0.10.0+ supports preserve_whitespace as a kwarg,
+    # while 0.9.0 only respects the global PRESERVE_WHITESPACE.
+    kwargs: dict = {}
+    _orig = tabulate_mod.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE
+    if preserve_whitespace:
+        if Version(tabulate_mod.__version__) >= Version("0.10"):
+            kwargs["preserve_whitespace"] = True
+        else:
+            tabulate_mod.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE = True
+
+    try:
+        text: str = tabulate(
+            data,
+            headers if headers is not None else (),
+            tablefmt="github" if markdown else "plain",
+            disable_numparse=True,
+            # None will be shown as "" by default, overriding
+            missingval="-",
+            colalign=colalign,
+            **kwargs,
+        )
+    finally:
+        tabulate_mod.PRESERVE_WHITESPACE = _orig
+
     if markdown:
         # NOTE: md table is incomplete without the trailing newline
         text += "\n"