YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — John McCain came to the Rust Belt yesterday to promote worker retraining for the new economy and to denounce "the siren song" of protectionism.

"The answer is education and training," McCain said in front of a rusted, empty steel-fabricating factory here.

Youngstown is the latest stop on McCain's tour this week of what his campaign portrays as "forgotten" places — communities struggling with changes in the global economy.

McCain again defended free trade during a town hall meeting at Youngstown State University but added that other countries have violated the principle at the expense of U.S. interests.

"We have to insist on fair and open competition," McCain told a man who protested Chinese "dumping" of cheap steel, crippling steel communities such as Youngstown.

A man who identified himself as a former AFL-CIO official challenged McCain over the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

McCain said that, violations aside, the problem is not free trade, but rather "our inability to adjust to a new world economy." He said the future does not belong to the "old industries," but rather "the information technology revolution."

Tying the area's struggles to his own early struggles in this presidential race, McCain said: "Sometimes you get a second chance and opportunity turns back your way. And when it does, we are stronger and readier because of all that we had to overcome."

McCain's visit to Ohio came on a day when neighboring Pennsylvania held a Democratic primary between New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, already has clinched the Republican presidential nomination.

Youngstown is part of a weeklong tour of economically troubled areas. Tomorrow, he visits the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky, before heading on to New Orleans.