You bring to mind something that I have wondered about for years ... how is it cheaper to mine ore in the northwest, send it by rail to the west coast, ship it to Japan for smelting, ship the steel back to the west coast, then send it by rail to Detriot so it can be used by the automakers. Why not ship directly to the relatively idle smelters that are in PA and AL, only a few hunderd miles from Detriot?
One word, UNION!!!!
Cheap labor in many cases and less regulation in others and exchange rates. Did you know that there is only one cotton spinning mill in the US and no sewing mills?