Tariffs would then be implemented 5% annually until it reaches full amounts on 1974, quotas were placed on Philippine products for free trade and for tariff while there were no restrictions placed on United States products imported into the Philippines and the value of the Philippine Peso was, as part of the agreement, tied to the value of the US Dollar at a fixed rate and a "parity" clause that granted equal economic rights between US citizens and Filipinos. This would allow them to exploit the country's natural resources and if this privilege was infringed, the United States president had the authority to revoke any part of the agreement. Being devastated by war, the Philippines was offered US$620 million to pay for war damages for the acceptance of the said clause. The said clause was very controversial. The Bell Trade Act was approved by the legislature July 2, 1946, just two days before the proclamation of independence. The parity clause, however, required an amendment because of an earlier existing article in the 1935 constitution that reserved use of natural resources to Filipinos. In 1947, an amendment was held and was approved. Critics saw it as a surrender of national sovereignty; however in 1955, a revised United States-Philippine Trade agreement was negotiated. The said treaty no longer allowed the United States to control the Peso, made parity privileges equal, extended the sugar quota, and extended the time period for the progressive application of tariffs on Philippine exported goods to the US.
There was political and social unrest in the form of the Huk guerilla rebellion and the PKM (National Peasant Union). Classic tenant-landlord, people vs. elite conflicts, the Huks were met by Roxas' mixed policy of negotiation and suppression. Although having established an agrarian commission and a law giving 70 percent of the harvest to the tenants as opposed to 50 or Osmeña's promise of 60, the Huks were not silenced.