Beijing, China - Beijing is looking to impose strict countermeasures on US agricultural products in retaliation against President Donald Trump's decision last week to slap an extra 10% duty on China.

American agricultural exports are likely in the crosshairs of Beijing, the Chinese state-owned Global Times reported.

The move has been expected for months and could have a damaging impact on the US economy.

"If the US insists on imposing unilateral tariffs and formally announces relevant measures, China will definitely carry out strong, powerful countermeasures," a source told the Global Times.

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Trump announced additional 10% tariffs on Chinese imports last week, triggering a firm response from officials who accused the US of ignoring Beijing's counternarcotics efforts. China vowed to "take all necessary countermeasures" as a result.

These countermeasures are likely to include both tariffs and what the Global Times calls "non-tariff measures" targeting US agricultural and food products.

China is the US' biggest market for agricultural products, meaning that tariffs and restrictions on the export of such goods would hit the US economy hard.

Numbers shared by Reuters reveal that China imported $29.25 billion in agricultural products from the US last year, which is already a 14% drop from 2023. Of particular concern is the export of cotton, soybeans, corn, and meat.

Economists have been warning the Trump administration against initiating a trade war with China for months, since well before Inauguration Day.

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Experts have warned of the possibility that retaliatory tariffs from Beijing could wreak havoc on various sectors of the economy, and that Trump's tariffs would lead to a rise of consumer prices in the US.

"The world economies are now so interwoven with each other [that] to rip and pull that apart would be incredibly disruptive to the US," Dartmouth College economist Douglas A. Irwin told The Washington Post in October.

"We are talking about a plan of historic significance: It would be enormous, and the blowback would be even more enormous," Irwin said. "This would stand way off the charts."