Text of Obama's interview with Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who leaves on Thursday for Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, gave Reuters an interview in the White House Oval Office on Monday.

Here is the transcript:

QUESTION: You've described China as a partner of opportunity, not necessity. Reuters and Ipsos actually took a poll last week, and ...

OBAMA: I saw it in your article.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, we found that Americans place a high importance on the relationship but tend to view Beijing as more of an adversary than a friend. And I'm wondering, do you see China as a rival or do you see it as an ally?

OBAMA: Well, I see China as a vital partner, as well as a competitor. The key is for us to make sure that that competition is friendly, and it's competition for customers and markets, it's within the bounds of well-defined international rules of the road that both China and the United States are party to, but also that together we are encouraging responsible behavior around the world. And on critical issues, whether climate change, economic recovery, nuclear non-proliferation, it's very hard to see how we succeed or China succeeds in our respective goals without working together. And that is, I think, the purpose of the strategic partnership and that's why this trip to China is going to be so important.

QUESTION: What about trade?

OBAMA: Well, trade ...

QUESTION: In terms of the rival ...

OBAMA: As I said, we are competitors. We have a very important economic relationship. One of the goals of this trip is to build off what we talked about at the G20, which is that over the last several decades that relationship was deeply imbalanced. On the one hand, we benefited greatly from cheap imports into the United States when it comes to -- as consumers. On the other hand, that was financed by huge debt, both on the consumer level and at the business and federal levels, or government levels, that are unsustainable, and our manufacturers I think have legitimate concerns about our ability to sell into China.

One of the things that we need to do coming out of this extraordinary economic crisis that we've seen over the past year is to move beyond this imbalanced bubble-based economic model toward one that is sustainable. And that means us selling more exports into China; it means us being more responsible in terms of our savings rate; it means China building on the growing consumer demand in their country. If both countries recognize their interest in a more sustainable growth model, then I think we will both benefit and the world in general will see greater stability.

QUESTION: One of the causes of those imbalances that you talked about during your campaign was the currency issue, manipulation of the currency. And I'd just like to ask you directly, are you going to raise that with the President of China on your visit? And do you agree with U.S. manufacturers when they say that the Chinese currency is significantly undervalued?

OBAMA: Tim Geithner, my Treasury Secretary, has been talking extensively to his counterpart about not only currency issues but the whole array of factors that have contributed to these imbalances. That broader conversation will be at the center of our conversations with the Chinese delegation. And as I said before, I think that as we emerge from an emergency situation, a crisis situation, I believe China will be increasingly interested in finding a model that is sustainable over the long term.

They have a huge amount of U.S. dollars that they're holding, so our success is important to them. The flip side of it is that if we don't solve some of these problems, then I think both economically and politically it will put enormous strains on the relationship.

So I'm confident that -- so the answer is, currency, along with a host of other issues, will come up. And I'm confident that both the United States and China can arrive at a broad set of policies that encourages trade, that benefits both countries, that allows ongoing economic growth. It's particularly important for us when it comes to Asia as a whole to recognize that in the absence of a more robust export strategy, it's going to be hard for us to rebuild our manufacturing base and our employment base in this country.

And right now we have about 9 percent of -- a 9 percent share of Asia's -- not just China, but Asia's trade overall, and it's estimated that for every 1 percent of increased share that we get, that could mean 250,000, 300,000 jobs.