CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Democratic presidential contender John Edwards yesterday criticized President Clinton, arguing that he allowed corporate insiders to shape the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement that has cost American jobs.

Mr. Edwards’s complaints about the former president beloved by voters in his own party was a defiant move meant to highlight Senator Clinton’s relationship with special interests. It comes two days after Mrs. Clinton refused Mr. Edwards’s challenge to stop taking campaign donations from lobbyists, saying many represent good causes.

“It’s time that the president stood up and fought for American workers,” Mr. Edwards told a crowd of about 300 people at a union hall in Cedar Rapids. “It’s time to have a president that always puts the interests of the American people first.”

While Mr. Edwards’s speech did not mention the name Mr. Clinton, the object of his complaint was obvious. Mr. Edwards criticized the presidential leadership during the 1993 passage of Nafta, which was started by President George H.W. Bush and pushed through by Mr. Clinton. He said the trade agreement between the American government, Mexico, and Canada was “written by insiders in all three countries.”

Mr. Edwards said the policies of President Bush have devastated towns and communities all across America, but “this is not just his doing.”

“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,” he said. “Instead, too many of these agreements have cost jobs and devastated towns and communities across this country.”

Mr. Edwards’s remarks come a day before he will share a stage with Senator Clinton and other Democratic candidates at an AFL-CIO forum in Chicago in which the White House hopefuls will make their appeal to labor. In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Edwards said, “The people who are registered in Washington to rig the system, which is exactly what they do, that Democratic presidential candidates, and Democratic candidates, and for that matter all candidates, should just say we’re not taking these peoples’ money anymore because it’s the way to take their power away from them, and it’s the way to bring about the change that this country needs.”

He added: “This is not specifically just about Senator Clinton or anybody else, it’s about restoring the power of the government back to its people.”

Responding to the criticism, Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, issued a memo highlighting recent polls showing the New York senator leading the Democratic field and offering a ready answer to any rivals.