John McCain hit Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hard today at a Town Hall Meeting in St. Louis for their recent protectionist talk on NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement:. McCain, in contrast to Obama and Clinton, described himself as a "free trader:"

Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized his Democratic rivals on Tuesday for pledging to renegotiate a hemispheric trade treaty that Democrats blame for U.S. manufacturing job losses.

At a town-hall meeting in St. Louis, the Arizona senator also called for the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress to approve a free-trade treaty with Colombia that is being stymied on Capitol Hill.

"On trade, I'm a free trader," McCain told employees at Savvis Internet company, a session dominated by questions about the ailing U.S. economy. . . .

In recent weeks, both Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have increased their criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement linking the U.S. economy with those of Canada and Mexico.

They pledged to pull the United States out of the NAFTA agreement if Mexico and Canada did not agree to renegotiate it. Critics blame NAFTA, China's accession to the World Trade Organization and other trade agreements for many of the roughly 3 million manufacturing jobs the United States has lost since 2000.

"I do not believe in isolationism and protectionism," McCain said. "We've got to stop this protectionist NAFTA-bashing."

The Bush administration -- noting that U.S. manufacturing output and exports set records last year -- argues that increased worker productivity and advances in manufacturing technology account for many of the lost jobs.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab argues NAFTA had been good for all three countries and warned reopening it could backfire on the United States.

McCain said promoting green technologies would help the U.S. economy rebound from manufacturing job losses.

"The moral of the story is, my friends, is we're not going back to the old manufacturing base of the economy," he said.