Former president Donald Trump offered enthusiastic support for vaping on Friday, promising to protect the industry following a private meeting earlier in the day with a leading vaping lobbyist.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he “saved Flavored Vaping in 2019” and would “save Vaping again!”
The comments represent a revisionist account of his administration’s approach to vaping, the heating of nicotine to make an inhaled aerosol. They overlook a significant crackdown Trump pursued as president — which antismoking advocates regard as one of the surprising accomplishments of his time in office and part of the reason for a steep decline in youth vaping over the past five years.
Yet Trump’s new posture is consistent with the recent financial support he has received from the tobacco industry. As The Washington Post reported this week, the biggest corporate donor to the primary pro-Trump super PAC is a subsidiary of Reynolds American, the second-largest tobacco company in the country.
Former U.S. officials and industry lobbyists argue that Big Tobacco is betting on Trump’s chaotic approach to public health and pliable views on policy as it confronts the possibility of additional regulation of e-cigarettes as well as a ban on menthol cigarettes, which was proposed but not implemented by the Biden administration. Biden delayed a final decision on the ban earlier this year, as advisers warned him that it could erode his support among Black smokers who studies show favor the products.
Trump’s comments also offer a case study in the way he takes policy positions.
His fulsome praise for vaping came just after a meeting with the head of the Vapor Technology Association, which describes itself as the leading vaping trade association, representing more than 100 members of the industry. The episode is a further illustration of the unexpected salience of tobacco in the bitterly contested 2024 campaign, raising questions about race, financial pressure and government regulation.
In response to an inquiry from The Post, the association’s executive director, Tony Abboud, provided no details about how the meeting came about but said it took place on Friday. “We had a wide-ranging conversation, and we thanked President Trump for taking two bold and decisive actions in 2019: saving flavored vapes for adults and protecting youth by raising the age to 21,” he said.
Abboud said in a text message that neither he nor his organization had made campaign donations to Trump; federal records show the group has not donated this cycle to either candidate or their leading PACs. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting or Trump’s post.
A spokesman for the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, declined to comment.
Vaping offers a substitute for smokers but presents hazards of its own, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Such hazards include exposure to toxic chemicals and metal particles, such as lead, chromium and nickel, as well as some of the same chemicals found in cigarette smoke, which can cause “irreversible lung damage,” the FDA has said.
On its website, the Vapor Technology Association says it’s “fighting for science-based policies that ensure the continued availability of less harmful nicotine products.” Its board includes representatives from companies with titles including “Demand Vape” and “Daddy’s Vapor.”
In his statement, Abboud accused the Biden administration of trying to “shut down small businesses and deprive adults who smoke of their flavored vaping products” and added, “We are pleased that former President Trump is continuing to fight for vapers.”
Trump, who has long expressed distaste for smoking, announced a sweeping ban on flavored vapes in 2019 — only to walk back part of his policy after warnings from campaign advisers who said it would endanger his 2020 reelection bid, frustrating public health experts.
The rapid policy swings followed a Trump-era crackdown on vaping that began in 2018, as officials warned of a spike in youth vaping and blamed flavored e-cigarettes for luring new users to try the products. In September 2019, Trump convened a meeting in the Oval Office, where senior officials announced broad plans to regulate flavored vaping. Alex Azar, the health secretary at the time, said the aim was to “clear the market” of flavored e-cigarettes, allowing the products to be sold only once they gained formal approval from federal regulators.
The industry was incensed, and the Vapor Technology Association spent more than $100,000 on negative advertising against Trump in the aftermath of the announcement, federal records show.
But as health officials readied the plans, Trump’s campaign advisers presented him with data showing that vaping was popular among his supporters. On Nov. 4, 2019, the day before a planned news conference to launch the decisive action, Trump balked and refused to approve a one-page memo advancing the policy.
At the end of the year, he did sign into law a bill raising the age to 21 for e-cigarette sales and other tobacco products. And early in 2020, the Trump administration moved forward with a scaled-back plan to limit flavored e-cigarettes but exempted the popular tobacco and menthol flavors.
Public health officials and experts — including Trump administration alumni — have cheered a retreat in youth vaping that began under Trump. Data released by federal officials in early September found that about 6 percent of middle and high school students reported currently using e-cigarettes this year, a roughly two-third decline since 2019.
Scott Gottlieb, who served as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under Trump and oversaw the 2018 crackdown, wrote on social media earlier this month that the declines in teen vaping represented “a notable public health achievement.”
While he campaigns, Trump has had multiple audiences with advocates for Big Tobacco.
Reynolds executives met with Trump on several occasions in 2023 and 2024, including a lengthy meeting earlier this year in New York, according to a person familiar with the interactions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private dealings.
The company, which has contributed millions of dollars to the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., did not respond to questions about the meetings.
Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.