system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: “The US is the worlds largest importer of steel, bringing in nearly four times as much as it exports” - if they need to buy more than they produce, why do they export any?
gpt
Imports versus exports is a terrible metric.

The US produces about 5% of the world's steel and consumes about 7.5%.

As for why they export any if they import, its about location.  If a Canadian company can get their steel from a close US company for less than they can get it from a far away Canadian company then they'll make the deal.  The US customers may be too far away, or not buy that kind of steel so the US steel maker wouldn't necessarily be able to sell it stateside even if they wanted to.

There are ton and tons of steel alloys, they're not interchangeable and most companies don't make even a fraction of the alloys.  If you need a specialty alloy you have to buy from specific companies even if they're abroad.