Where I work, they tried buying Chinese made steel because it was cheaper, significantly cheaper.    The problem, they had to toss a bit less than half away because it did not meet the engineering standards required to manufacture with that steel.  Then, the stuff that did pass wound up rusting out so fast that it had to be replaced at their expense.    Since that experiment, they will not buy anything from China.  There are times where cheating out costs a lot more than paying upfront.