Ben Roethlisberger Denies Trade Rumors: 'I Don't Know Where That Came From'

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger isn't going anywhere. Not if he has anything to say about it.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback called a report he may seek a trade in the offseason "ridiculous."

NFL.com reported early Sunday the Steelers expected Roethlisberger to ask the team to explore trade options in the offseason. Roethlisberger's agent, Ryan Tollner, called the speculation "completely wrong" and added the 31-year-old quarterback is "100 percent committed to winning a championship with the Steelers."

Roethlisberger went even further after passing for 204 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 23-10 win over Buffalo on Sunday.

"I don't know where that came from," he said. "It is one of the most (untrue) stories that I've ever heard of. I've always said that I want to be a Steeler for life. I love it here. I'm happy here."

The report called Roethlisberger "very frustrated" by his team's ugly start. The Steelers improved to 3-6 after drumming the Bills, but still remain well out of the mix in the AFC North.

Roethlisberger, who has won two Super Bowls in 10 seasons, agreed he's "unhappy" when Pittsburgh fails to produce, but welcomed his share of the blame. Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Todd Haley have struggled to communicate at times since Haley was hired nearly two years ago. The quarterback and the coach have spent much of the season trying to find common ground.

Steelers president Art Rooney II added "the Pittsburgh Steelers have not explored trading quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and have no plans to do so."

Roethlisberger's current contract will expire at the end of the 2015 season. He is due a base salary of $12.1 million next season, with a salary cap number of nearly $19 million. That alone would could make it difficult for the Steelers to move Roethlisberger even if there was interest.

Apparently, there's not. Tollner said Roethlisberger's roots are "firmly" planted in western Pennsylvania. Roethlisberger and his wife are expecting their second child next spring.

"I'm a Pittsburgher," Roethlisberger said. "I've told people that. I'm so proud to raise my kids here. I want to finish my career here, however long that is. I don't want to play for anybody else. This is it for me."

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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org

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Michael Froman approved the Senate as United States trade representative

* New USTR will oversee trade negotiations with the EU, Asia and the Pacific

* Froman also faces challenges in India, China trade

* Senator Warren complains about the secret of the trade negotiations of United States

* Ex-USTR Zoellick: the key question is can Froman close deals (adds more quotes, background, signature)

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - the Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to approve the Adviser for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman White House to be the next representative of trade, sending him to the battle of big in Asia and Europe trade negotiations.

Froman, an old friend of President Barack Obama, has already played an important role in the trade policy of the United States in the last four years of his tenure at the White House.

Now moves that work behind the scenes to a prominent role in the Cabinet of Obama, where other large jobs will include manage difficult relationships with China and India and breathing life into moribund world negotiations.

"Mike is smart. Known issues. What is very important, has the confidence of the President, "former representative of Commerce of United States Robert Zoellick, a Republican, said Wednesday in a speech at the Wilson Center, a foreign policy think-tank.

Froman was passed in a vote of 93-4. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat of Massachusetts, was one of the few senators to vote against it, citing what it called a lack of transparency in trade negotiations in the United States, a complaint of many civil society groups have done in the past.

"Many people are deeply interested in the tracking of the trajectory of the trade negotiations, but if they do not have reasonable access to view terms of bargaining agreements, then they cannot have real input," said Warren.

Froman got strong words of support from President of the Committee of finance Senate Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and Senator Orrin Hatch, top of the Republican group.

"I have full confidence in this man's going to be a great leader..." "It is highly qualified, said hatch.

Senate action came few days after Obama and the leaders of the European Union opened talks on what would become the free trade agreement in the world, the society's proposed transatlantic trade and investment pact.

From now you will preside over the first round of such negotiations, for the week of July 8 in Washington.

United States is also negotiating an agreement of free trade with Japan and 10 other countries in the region of Asia and the Pacific, known as the Pact of transpacific partnership expected to finish by the end of this year.

Froman's legacy will rest on if you can bring these two great negotiations for agreements and gain its approval in Congress.

To ensure the Covenant of Asia and the Pacific and win new opportunities for export to American businesses and farmers, Froman has to make politically difficult decisions that would open the U.S. market to more auto, dairy products, sugar and textile imports.

The United States and the European Union want to finish their negotiations in late 2014, requiring compromise on difficult issues such as European restrictions on the importation of modified crops genetically and other barriers to food safety which Washington says they are not based on scientific evidence.

Froman also faces an early test in Congress to get the approval of the authority of trade promotion, a piece of legislation that many of the companions of the Obama Democrats have opposed in the past.

That law, which expired in 2007, allows the White House to trade to submit tenders to the Congress to vote up or down without amendments.

Approval of the Bill would be a strong signal of support from the Congress for Asia and the Pacific and the EU agreements, helping to bring them to an end.

Concern in the Congress for the massive US trade deficit with China, which reached a record $315 billion in 2012, also pressuring Froman to advance on that front.

In addition, many lawmakers are increasingly frustrated with indigenous policies that block imports of United States and override patent protection for valuable pharmaceutical products in the United States.

In December, Froman will head to Bali for the ninth ministerial of the world Organization of trade in the middle of darkness on the continued viability of that body as a negotiating forum.

With the 12-year-old Doha round of world trade in a dead-end negotiations WTO members are struggling to reach an agreement on a small package of trade agreements to demonstrate that they can produce results. (Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Trott)

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