Governors spend heavily on trade missions, but costly trips have uneven record of success

Governors across the country have been packing their bags for trade missions abroad, spending taxpayer dollars on costly trips that have an uneven track record of yielding any tangible benefits for their states.

Last week alone, governors of 10 states were jetting across Europe, many converging at an air show in Paris. Others traveled to Canada, South America and Asia. At the beginning of last week, more than a quarter of the nation's governors were out of the country.

An Associated Press analysis of gubernatorial trade trips since the start of 2014 shows that governors have taken or scheduled more than 80 trips to 30 countries.

The results are mixed, with some governors striking multimillion-dollar business deals and others achieving little to show for their travels.