In March, Trump's administration announced it would impose taxes on imports from China, Mexico, Canada and the EU, to encourage US consumers buy American products. It now seems that scenario isn't likely to see fruit, as domestic companies will end up paying more tax. Zhao Yunfei has more.

US businesses have to pay a 25 percent tax when they import steel from the locations hit by Trump's tariffs, and a 10 percnt levy on aluminum. American companies applied for exemption in a scheme where they can get the tax back from the Commerce Department. Two thousand companies applied for exemptions on 20 thousand products but only 42 products from 7 companies were successful. Many companies will now face a "survival crisis", including the biggest nail factory in the US. This manufacturer has been forced to cut jobs.

MANAGER MID-CONTINENT NAIL PLANT "The imposition of these tariffs on June 1st on our raw materials has actually put our operation into crisis mode."

Mid-Continent Nail Plant's production prices have increased because of the high tariffs. At the same time, the company's manager says orders have dropped by half.

MANAGER MID-CONTINENT NAIL PLANT "At this point, we just have to evaluate each day, take each day one time and make the decisions that we need going forward."

The company says if they can't get exemption from the Commerce Department, they will probably have to shut down by September. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates 2.6 million jobs are at risk because of Trump's hardline on trade. And Moody's Analytics, a financial rating firm, says 70 thousand jobs will be lost by next summer under the current tariff measures.