The retaliatory tariffs the EU imposed on US goods came into force last week. The levies come in response to new US duties on steel and aluminium imports. Many analysts say Washington has more to lose from its protectionist moves than the targeted countries themselves. WANG TONGXUAN has more.

American motorbike manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, has become the latest victim of the trade war.

The company's now shifting some manufacturing of its iconic motorcycles overseas, to avoid the retaliatory European tariffs imposed last week.

Trump tweeted that he was "surprised" by the company's announcement. He criticized the motorcycle maker for waving the white flag after he had quote "fought hard for them."

But Harley's move is a consequence of Trump's tariff fight, which is supposed to protect American jobs by levying taxes, including on imports of European steel and aluminum.

The EU responded to Washington's charges with retaliatory tariffs on more than 3 billion dollars worth of US goods, including motorcycles.

For Harley, that means duties on its products will be raised from 6 percent to 31 percent, if they continue to manufacture in America. It would lead to an additional cost of 22-hundred dollars being added to each unit they export from the US to the European market, where they sold 40,000 new motorcycles last year. Europe accounted for 16 percent of their total sales. Harley's internal analysis predicts the EU tariffs will bring about a full-year impact of 90 to a hundred million US dollars, which is about 15 percent of the company's annual profits.

Harley-Davidson is not the only business feeling the impact of Trump's trade measures. Sartori, a Wisconsin cheese company, is seeing tariffs on its products jump by between fifteen to twenty-five percent.

The company worries foreign buyers will turn to other countries if the trade tensions go on for too long.

Sartori's president also noted that the company buys its milk from over one-hundred local farms. If Sartori loses business, so do those farmers.

Trump's new policy was also a concern to the two hundred CEOs of large US companies who attended a roundtable conference in May.

90 percent of the business leaders are worried about higher capitalized costs, while 95 percent consider the decrease in exports caused by retaliatory tariffs as a moderate or even high risk.

And in the first 5 months of this year, Chinese investment in the United States fell by 92 percent, down to 1.8 billion US dollars.

Experts say the current situation reflects the inconsistency of Trump's trade policies.

Professor Gong Jiong from the University of International Business and Economics said Trump's punitive tariffs on China breaks his promise at this year's Davos Forum of being opening for business.

Professor Gong also warned that the consequences of a trade war will backfire on Trump and the Republican Party as mid-term elections approach. WTX, CGTN.