By Jeff Mason

OTTAWA, June 20 (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 its 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.

The issue was an especially sensitive one in the electoral battleground state of Ohio, where many blame the agreement for a loss of manufacturing jobs.

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."

PAID BY CAMPAIGN

McCain declined to comment on Obama's remarks 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."

McCain also called for Canada and the United States to align their energy policies more closely. Canada is a top U.S. energy supplier.

"We stand much to gain by harmonizing our energy policies, just as we have gained by cooperating in trade through NAFTA."

He repeated his desire to close to the Guantanamo Bay prison facility and said he would forge a foreign policy as president that paid attention to allies' opinions.

"I intend as well to listen carefully when close allies offer their counsel," he said. "Even when they don't volunteer their advice, I'll ask for it and I'll seek it out."

(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer, editing by Philip Barbara)

AlertNet news is provided by