Despite President Bush's assertion that his recent trade mission to Japan was a success, the trip did little to help the ailing economy.

"I don't think that he achieved much at all," said Vicki Golich, assistant professor of political science.

The trip will have little effect on the more than $40 billion annual trade deficit that exists between the United States and Japan, Golich predicted.

Refik Culpan, associate professor of management at Penn State Harrisburg, agreed that although the Japanese promised to buy more automobiles, the trip will only marginally affect the trade deficit and the recession.

Automobile imports from Japan are largely responsible for the trade imbalance between the United States and that country, Culpan said.

The trip probably won't create additional jobs either, Culpan said, but added that auto workers should retain their current jobs.

"The publicity surrounding the trip will call attention to our difficulty with trade with Japan," said Phillip Klein, professor of economics. "But the bigger problem is the failure of the U.S. to keep the quality of its products high."

Bush has also taken flak for inviting the chairmen of the Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- and other U.S. business leaders on the trip.

"Bush took along the wrong people," Klein said. "He should've taken along people who could sell."

Instead of bringing auto company chairmen, Bush should have invited labor representatives on the trip, Golich said.

Klein agreed, saying that the business leaders offended the Japanese.

"It was supposed to be a diplomatic trip and (Bush) made it into a Japanese trade-bashing trip," he said.