CARTAGENA, Colombia — John McCain portrayed free trade Tuesday as a win-win proposition for the U.S. and its Latin American economic partners, though he conceded that he has work to do to convince Rust Belt voters.
The Republican presidential hopeful began a three-day visit to Colombia and Mexico after a campaign swing through Indiana and Pennsylvania, two states hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs partly due to trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, which McCain strongly supports.
McCain and his wife, Cindy, met Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the president’s ceremonial home in Cartagena before a meeting between the two men and several Colombian Cabinet ministers.
McCain conceded Monday he still has work to do to convince voters in industrial swing states in the Midwest, where the presidential election could be decided, that his support for free trade will benefit them, not just cost more jobs. He pledged to improve programs for displaced workers and unemployment insurance if elected, but acknowledged that wouldn’t be enough.
“I have to convince them the consequences of protectionism and isolationism could be damaging to their future,” the Arizona senator said.
“I understand it’s very tough. But for me to give up my advocacy of free trade would be a betrayal of trust,” he said. “And the most precious commodity I have with the American people is that they trust me.”
McCain’s trip caps a visit in late June to Ottawa, where he talked up cross-border cooperation with Canada on economic issues, especially trade.
McCain insisted the visit to Latin America — his third overseas trip since becoming the likely Republican presidential nominee — was not meant to be political and said he would not criticize rival Barack Obama directly while abroad. He made a similar pledge when he visited Canada but took a swipe at the Democrat nonetheless, suggesting without using Obama’s name that the Illinois senator’s opposition to NAFTA was “nothing more than retreating behind protectionist walls.”
McCain arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, Tuesday evening for meetings with Uribe and several Cabinet ministers. He was accompanied by two of his top supporters, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut.
McCain also is a strong supporter of a proposed free-trade agreement with Colombia that is stalled in Congress. The House blocked a vote over issues that include violence against labor activists in the country.
McCain said Uribe had rescued Colombia from becoming a “failed state” and only indirectly criticized the government’s human rights record. While he said anyone perpetuating human rights abuses in the country should be arrested and tried, he insisted the country’s struggle is no justification for blocking the pact.
