McCain promotes NAFTA in Canadian trip

By Jeff Mason

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Republican John McCain defended the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada on Friday during an unusual foreign trip as a U.S. presidential candidate to draw a contrast with Barack Obama, his Democratic rival in the November election.

McCain, an Arizona senator who has wrapped up his party's White House nomination, said the trip was not a political one and declined to mention Obama by name during remarks before a group of Canadian business leaders and policy makers.

But his comments clearly took aim at the Illinois senator for suggesting the United States could opt out of NAFTA if Canada and Mexico did not agree to revise the pact's labor and environmental provisions.

"Demanding unilateral changes and threatening to abrogate an agreement that has increased trade and prosperity is nothing more than retreating behind protectionist walls," McCain said.

"If I am elected president, have no doubt that America will honor its international commitments -- and we will expect the same of others."

Trade is one of several issues that has come to the forefront of the U.S. presidential campaign as Americans worry about the sluggish U.S. economy and rising fuel costs.

Obama appeared to back away somewhat from his earlier remarks in an interview with Fortune magazine released this week. "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he said in the interview. "I'm not a big believer in doing things unilaterally."

"I believe in free trade. I think that all countries can prosper as a consequence of free trade," Obama told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday, adding he also thought the United States could be a better negotiator on behalf of American workers and for environmental standards.

SUPPORT FOR ROBUST TRADE

Obama's suggestion that he wanted to renegotiate NAFTA caused concern in Canada, but Obama said he has spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue.

"I believe that the United States has an enormous interest in maintaining robust trade relationships with Canada and Mexico and I expect those will continue under an Obama administration."

McCain declined to comment on Obama's remarks to Fortune at a news conference after his speech in Ottawa. He said his trip was organized and paid for by his presidential campaign because he felt it inappropriate for U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill when he was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"There aren't any electoral votes to be won up here in the middle of a presidential election," he said to laughter from the audience. "But there are many shared interests that require our attention."

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, criticized McCain.

"Instead of delivering a speech from Ottawa, Canada, Sen. McCain should visit Ottawa, Ohio, where the Phillips plant closed," Brown said in a statement. "We need trade policies that create new jobs at home, not ship them to Mexico."