In the April 12 interview, Firestein focused on frontrunner candidates Hillary Clinton (Democratic) and Donald Trump (Republican) about their positions on U.S.-China relations.

The EWI Perot Fellow argued that it was best not to take Trump's rhetoric regarding U.S.-China trade relations at face value, since any president would be constrained by treaty obligations, Congress, and the U.S. business community in terms of what actions he or she could take to change the relationship.

With regard to Clinton, Firestein commented that she was highly pragmatic in her views of U.S.-China relations and saw the relationship as too important to be treated in a rigid, doctrinaire fashion. He predicted that Clinton's current campaign rhetoric on trade, human rights or other security issues would be unlikely to translate into policies appreciably different or tougher than the current policies, of which she was a major architect.