During his 2024 election campaign, Donald Trump made a clear promise: he would "save flavoured vaping!" Again. But the actions his administration has taken so far point in the opposite direction, leaving many to question whether the promise was anything but election pork.
The online magazine Vaping360 takes a comprehensive look at the issue of vejpning and the colourful President of the United States. In September 2024, Donald Trump met with leaders of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA), and subsequently published a social media post in which he wrote: "I saved Flavored Vaping in 2019... I'll save Vaping again!"
Such statements naturally raised hopes within the independent vaping industry, which envisaged that the freedom to produce flavoured vejp products would be preserved.
But - as is so often the case - "pork-barrel politics" is one thing and the harsh reality that follows is another. The actual Trump policy suggests that it is not aimed at empowering small players at all - but rather the opposite.
Big tobacco gets everything on the wish list
According to Vaping360, the administration has taken several actions that favour the big tobacco companies. They argue that Trump has so far mostly delivered exactly what his big tobacco donors wanted. For example, one legislative proposal includes language that would force the FDA's (Food and Drug Administration) Centre for Tobacco Products (CTP) to devote a large portion of its budget to oversight of vejp products - rather than promoting approval or development.
Martin Makary, Trump's FDA nominee, has quickly turned the spotlight on "illegal products from China" and said that crackdowns on vejp sellers are necessary, according to Reason.com in an article on the same topic. Critics have pointed out that Makary's rhetoric about youth vejpning is greatly exaggerated in relation to available statistics. Reason.com concludes that the FDA and Makary are rather blocking policy directions that could just "save vejping".
Lobbying and the tobacco industry
Another interesting aspect highlighted is the role of tobacco companies. Several reports describe that large tobacco companies like Altria and Reynolds actively lobbied within the Trump administration. And this is not in favour of an open vaping market, but rather to preserve their own products and prevent competition from smaller independent producers.
Reuters has also published an entire article on how "big tobacco" has actively worked to influence the administration in a direction that favours itself, and that it seems to be having the desired effect.
Same image from several sources
Among Trump's own voters, there is clear support for using flavoured vaping products. A poll shows that around 65% of those voters support Trump keeping his promise to "save flavoured vejping" according to vaportechnology.org.
In summary, all signs seem to indicate that Trump's rhetoric during the election campaign about "saving vaping" was mostly empty words. In separate articles, Vaping360, Reason and Reuters all paint the same picture: the actual measures point to more control and increased burdens in the form of complicated rules for small operators, while the big tobacco companies have so far got everything on their wish list.
