iPhones and other U.S. goods could suffer sales hits in China if President-elect Donald Trump goes through with his "naive" plan of slapping a large import tariff on Chinese products, a state-backed newspaper warned on Sunday. During his election campaign this year, Trump spoke of a 45 percent import tariff on all Chinese goods while failing to outline how it would work. Should any such policy come into effect, China will take a "tit-for-tat approach", according to an opinion piece in the Global Times, a newspaper backed by the Communist party. "A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. U.S. auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and U.S. soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the U.S.," the Global Times article read. Apple has not responded to CNBC's request for comment.

A man holds his new iPhone 7 at an Apple store in Beijing. Thomas Peter | Reuters

But the Chinese newspaper was not convinced Trump would go through with his suggestion, calling it "merely campaign rhetoric" and questioning its legal validity. U.S. law dictates that presidents can only impose tariffs of no more than 15 percent for a maximum of 150 days on all imports.