President Donald Trump is backing away from the idea of banning most flavored e-cigarettes, a proposal he made in September, saying he wanted to crack down on vaping among teens. But officials close to Trump say he has since grown reluctant to move forward on the issue as such a step could alienate the voters he needs for reelection.
The situation
Under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential pushback from his supporters, Trump has resisted moving forward with any action on vaping, while saying he still wants to study the issue.
Even a watered-down ban on flavored e-cigarettes that exempted menthol, which was widely expected, appears to have been set aside, for now.
Previously
Seated in the Oval Office in September, Trump said he was moving to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes as vaping among young people continued to rise.
“We can’t have our kids be so affected,” Trump said. The first lady, Melania Trump, who rarely involves herself publicly with policy announcements in the White House, was there, too. “She’s got a son,” Trump noted, referring to their teenager, Barron. “She feels very strongly about it.”
What happened
On a flight Nov. 4, while traveling to a political rally in Kentucky, Trump was swayed by the advisers who warned him of political repercussions to any sweeping restrictions.
Credit: DOUG MILLS
Credit: DOUG MILLS
Reviewing talking points on the ban aboard the plane with advisers, Trump decided to cancel the administration’s rollout of an announcement, which included a news conference that Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, was planning to hold on the issue the next day. Instead, another meeting was proposed.
»RELATED: Juul halts US sales of popular mint-flavored e-cigarettes
The discussion aboard the Nov. 4 flight was first reported by The Washington Post.
White House officials pushing for action were still holding out hope there would be an announcement of a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, with an exemption for menthol, last week.
Why it matters
The proposed ban had gathered significant support earlier this fall, as the crisis over teenage vaping, with year-over-year increases, coincided with a sprawling outbreak of severe lung injuries.
»FROM FEBRUARY: Tobacco use among U.S. youths increasing because of e-cigarettes
While most of the illnesses, now affecting more than 2,000 people and causing more than 40 deaths, have been attributed to vaping THC products, the e-cigarette industry also became the target of criticism for luring minors into using its products.
A lack of federal action prompted several states to try to institute bans on flavored e-cigarettes, spurring the vaping and tobacco industries to mount legal challenges and lobby lawmakers and the White House against regulatory restrictions that would impede adult e-smokers.
Anticipating the ban
Juul Labs, the largest seller of e-cigarettes in the country and the target of several federal investigations, had taken most of its flavors off the market in anticipation of a national flavor ban. The company had said its mint-flavored pods made up about 70% of its sales; menthol was 10%; and two tobacco flavors accounted for 20%. But many other look-alikes, in flavors including chai and melon, have sprung up to fill the void left by Juul’s actions.
»FROM SEPTEMBER: Michigan bans flavored e-cigarettes, first state in country
Trump has since decided to follow the advice of political advisers to stall on the issue and meet with more groups.
On Nov. 11, Trump tweeted that he would be “meeting with representatives of the vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the vaping and E-cigarette dilemma.”
The announcement on Twitter took West Wing advisers by surprise, and one senior official said no meeting had been scheduled.
Pressure for Trump
One adviser who spoke to Trump recently said the president was simply overwhelmed by other issues, including the televised impeachment hearings that began last week, distracting him from deciding what the administration should do about restricting e-cigarette flavors.
But he is concerned about his chances in 2020, and allies working for the vaping industry have told Trump of battleground state polling of his own voters that showed the issue costing him support.
One such poll was commissioned by John McLaughlin, one of the Trump campaign pollsters, for the Vapor Technology Association. The poll, which surveyed battleground state voters who vape, showed negative results for Trump if he went ahead with a ban and was passed around to a number of people in Trump’s circle, including Brad Parscale, his campaign manager, and senior White House officials.
Tony Abboud, the executive director of the group that commissioned the poll that has helped influence the president, said they were encouraged by “what appears to be a move in the right direction for adult smokers and their families. Bans don’t work, they never have.”
»RELATED: Trump to pursue higher sales age for e-cigarettes
Trump has also been under an intense lobbying campaign over the last seven weeks, waged by tobacco and vaping companies, along with conservative organizations, such as Americans for Tax Reform, which are opposed to regulatory limits that would affect retailers, small businesses and adult consumers of e-cigarettes. Some have promoted enforcing sales restrictions to protect minors or raising the national age to 21 for sales of all tobacco products.
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