"We take Senator Kerry seriously when he says he thinks the Bush trade policy is flawed and has accelerated the loss of U.S. jobs."

The Massachusetts senator's pledge to review existing trade agreements in the first 120 days of taking office could vastly reshape the priorities driving U.S. trade policy, she said.

In addition to putting a greater emphasis on labor and environmental protections in trade agreements, the AFL-CIO expects Kerry to take a harder line on Chinese labor practices and currency policies than Bush has, Lee said.

The AFL-CIO endorsed Kerry over Democratic rival Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who has been even more critical of trade agreements. Edwards voted last year against free trade pacts with Chile and Singapore, while Kerry skipped the votes.

However, both Kerry and Edwards oppose a new free trade agreement with five Central American countries that the Bush administration could put before Congress this year.

Kerry also has warned he would not sign a proposed free trade agreement covering every country in the Americas except Cuba unless it contains stronger labor and environmental provisions than the Central American pact.

Ed Gresser, trade policy director for the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank, said Kerry could back away from the Bush administration's policy of pursuing bilateral free trade agreements around the world.

In addition to the Singapore, Chile and Central American pacts, the White House recently finished a pact with Australia and is negotiating with the Dominican Republic, Morocco, Bahrain and the five-nation Southern African Customs Union.

"A new president would probably reassess that strategy," Gresser said. "I think the Bush administration has actually found this a difficult program to manage. It looks to me kind of hard to pass these trade agreements right now."