Trump vows to ‘save vaping’ despite previous support for ban

Former President Donald Trump, in a post on Truth Social Friday, said he would “save vaping,” despite banning flavored vaping products during his first term.

“I’ll save Vaping again!” Trump said in the post.

His post appears to flip-flop from actions he took when he was president. In 2020, the Trump administration announced a limited ban on mint and fruit flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes, but not all types of vaping products.

In 2019, Trump had faced some criticism when he announced it would ban all flavored vape products.

In December 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a ban on flavored vaping products in a press release. The WHO had said that the ban was necessary to “prevent uptake of e-cigarettes and counter nicotine addiction” in the release.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announced a task force of agencies focused on cracking down on the distribution of illicit electronic cigarettes. Later that month, the FDA then authorized the first nontobacco flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers, signaling the agency believed some flavors of vaping products could be used to mitigate the effects of smoking traditional cigarettes. 

The Supreme Court announced earlier this year that it will hear a case involving the FDA marketing denial of two companies that sell flavored tobacco vaping products.