European manufacturing and industrial processes were at that time superior to those in the US. They didn't want or need manufactured goods, they wanted and needed raw materials mostly. The tariffs were put into place to keep the European manufactured goods from flooding US markets and displacing American manufacturers of same or similar goods.
Here is a statement of the export trade from a New York Author from a book written in 1860.
Others have shown me sources of information that demonstrate an even greater amount of Southern wealth production than is shown in this book.
Calhoun and his tariffs created the biggest rifts creating anger at time of war beginning.... Maybe this info will show how it came down to a Civil War:
The "tariffs" have long been cited as a major cause of the war, but I think this is a red herring that has long been advanced to discredit the real economic reasons for the war. The "tariff" issue is one part of it, but it is much bigger than just the tariff.
The threat to the North East was the possibility of the South intercepting the lion's share of European trade, and the possibility that they would undermine existing manufacturing and industry in the North by setting up their own industries from the additional capital they would receive by handling direct European trade themselves.
They threatened the possibility of capturing the west and midwest by becoming the supply system for these regions. As their economics led them to closer ties to the south, so too would their politics and allegiances eventually have followed.