The Emergency Tariff increased rates on wheat, sugar, meat, wool, and other agricultural products brought into the United States from foreign nations, which provided protection for domestic producers of those items. Farm state representatives saw the tariff as only the first step in a campaign for permanent protection and more government aid. Although the tariff was enacted to protect American products and as an attempt the diffuse the postwar recession, the protectionist legislation ultimately created an imbalance in international commerce by heightening economic nationalism.