John Edwards took aim at the free trade policies of the Clinton administration Monday, calling for greater skepticism about deals with other nations.

Edwards said past trade policies have hurt American workers, in what some saw as a dig at New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, one of his chief rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"For far too long, presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements, agreements like NAFTA, promising that they would create millions of new jobs and enrich communities," Edwards told 300 people at a union hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to The Associated Press. "Instead, too many of these agreements have cost jobs and devastated towns and communities across this country."

Keeping pressure on

With his poll numbers lagging, Edwards has stepped up his attacks on Clinton. In recent days, he has criticized her for accepting contributions from Washington lobbyists and accepting donations from executives of companies owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

"You can read this [trade] rhetoric as a jab at Hillary -- an effort to say, 'I'm the change guy who will take us in the new direction we need, and Hillary is the past,' " said David Redlawsk, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.

Edwards is also trying to set himself apart from the rest of the Democratic field as a leading critic of free trade policies.

If elected president, Edwards said, he would be a tougher trade negotiator who would ensure that trade deals have strong labor and environmental standards. He said he would back stricter enforcement of trade deals, more help for dislocated workers and more safety regulations for imported food and drugs. He also called for ending tax incentives for companies to move overseas.

"Trade has become a bad word for working Americans for a simple reason -- our trade policies have been bad for working Americans," Edwards said. "It is not enough for a trade deal to be popular on Wall Street or show up in economic statistics. My main measure is just this one: After considering the impact on jobs, wages and prices, will most families be better off?"

The Clinton campaign declined to respond to Edwards' criticism Monday. But it released a memo from chief strategist Mark Penn saying, "The polls went up for Hillary and the open attacks on her have begun. Related? In politics it usually is."

Edwards is also making a concerted effort to win over organized labor, for which such trade agreements have long been unpopular.

On Sunday, Edwards attended a rally sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Standard Ready Mix.

Tonight, he will participate in an AFL-CIO debate in Chicago, and later in the week he will attend union rallies in Las Vegas and in California.

No agreement on trade

Although President Clinton, a Democrat, helped push the North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress in 1993, the pact has long been a divisive issue in Democratic circles.

"Trade is a tough issue for Democrats because it really splits the party," Redlawsk said. "There is a free trade wing, and I don't want to say protectionist, less than free trade wing, particularly the old-line trade unions. They are suspicious of all the free trade agreements."

Even Sen. Clinton has softened her free trade support, recently telling a labor audience that NAFTA had "a lot of downsides" as well as positives.

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