McCain Stressing Trade On Latin American Trip

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 1 -- Sen. John McCain arrived here Tuesday night on his third foreign trip since clinching the Republican presidential nomination, the latest attempt to embellish his international credentials at a time when the electorate is increasingly focused on domestic issues.

McCain's latest trip -- to Colombia and Mexico -- is designed to highlight his positions on trade and, to a lesser degree, immigration. Its value has been questioned by campaign strategists in both parties, since neither issue seems a winner for his campaign. His insistence on the virtues of free trade remain suspect in Rust Belt swing states, and his position on immigration continues to make many conservatives wary.

That raises a difficult question for his campaign: Can a presidential candidate really win by "expanding the map" to Mexico, Colombia, Canada and Europe?

Speaking to reporters on his arrival in Colombia, McCain (Ariz.) said he will stick by his support for free trade because "I have to do what I think is right for America. But I want to add very quickly: I understand the pain people are going through. I understand the challenges."

Asked whether his trade position will hurt his campaign, he took a swipe at his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.): "I take stands on principle, and I don't switch positions depending on what audience or what time it is in the electoral calendar."

But the electoral risks are significant in a country that by better than a 2 to 1 margin thinks global trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, according to a recent survey by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Worse for his chances of winning the White House in the fall, recent surveys show growing majorities of the public think free-trade policies lead to job losses, slow the economy and pose a threat to the country's economic recovery. Almost a third of voters say free trade has probably hurt their family's financial situation.

McCain's three-day trip follows one to Canada last week in which he extolled the virtues of an open border and talked about the "shared destiny" and "productive" relationship between the two countries. Aides said McCain will have another chance to put his foreign policy experience on display when he meets with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Mexican President Felipe Calderón.

Critics of McCain's position on trade have cited abusive treatment of labor activists in both countries, and he hopes to confront the issue on the trip. He has called the situation in Mexico "serious" but has said that any human rights abuses in Colombia have to be balanced against Uribe's "rescue of Colombia from a failed-state status."

In an interview before leaving the United States, McCain acknowledged that his high-profile crusade for free-trade agreements with Latin America remains a hard sell with many U.S. voters.

But, the senator added, he had no other choice: "For me to give up my advocacy of free trade would be a betrayal of trust. I think the most precious commodity I have with the American people is that they trust me."

He will have a hard time convincing leaders of organized labor. James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters union, which has endorsed Obama, said McCain's trips abroad are an "insult" to Americans.