April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Mark Penn, the chief campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton, apologized for meeting with Colombian officials to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement opposed by Clinton.

``The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am sorry for it,'' Penn said in a written statement about his March 31 talk with the Colombian ambassador. ``The senator's well-known opposition to this trade deal is clear and was not discussed,'' he said in the statement released by Clinton's campaign.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Penn attended the meeting as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a communications and lobbying firm, not as a Clinton adviser.

Burson-Marsteller has a contract with Colombia to promote U.S. approval of the deal, according to documents the company filed with the Department of Justice last year.

``Mark was not there representing the campaign,'' Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said. ``Senator Clinton is crystal clear in her opposition to the Colombia trade deal.''

Paul Cordasco, a spokesman for Burson-Marsteller, declined to comment, as did Sandra Ocampo, a spokeswoman for the Colombian Embassy in Washington.

Clinton, of New York, and Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, have opposed the Colombia accord and threatened to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to incorporate stronger labor and environmental standards.

Seven Unions

Greg Tarpinian, executive director of Change to Win, which represents seven unions and about 6 million workers, said Penn's meeting ``suggests that he has been playing a double role -- advising the senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.'' The group has endorsed Obama.

Clinton last month accused Obama of misleading voters about his views on trade, citing a private meeting his economic adviser held with Canadians that included a discussion of Nafta.

Austan Goolsbee, Obama's top economic policy adviser, met with officials in the Canadian consulate in Chicago last month. A memo by a Canadian official describing the meeting said Goolsbee assured them that Obama's public pledge to force a renegotiation of Nafta was ``more about political positioning.''

Goolsbee denied uttering the phrase, and a spokesman for Obama last month said Clinton knew that Obama wasn't misleading voters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Leigh in Washington at kleigh@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 4, 2008 18:15 EDT