The uncertainty has led to a battle to get the president’s attention. Earlier on Friday, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network ran an advertisement on Fox News calling for restrictions on flavored vaping products minutes before Trump appeared on the cable TV network for an interview.
At the meeting, public-health advocates raised concerns about rising rates of vaping among teenagers, while industry representatives warned Trump of job losses and alleged that their opponents are funded by the president’s political rivals.
Penny Young Nance, the CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, told Trump that her organization once thought vaping would help smokers quit cigarettes, but now supports a ban on flavored products and on advertisements for vaping products.
Greg Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association, told Trump during the meeting that many opponents of flavored vaping products are funded by Michael Bloomberg, who has taken steps to enter the Democratic presidential primary. Bloomberg, the majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, has campaigned and given money in support of a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco.
At one point, Conley told Trump that “these groups have 160 million reasons from Michael Bloomberg to not come to the table and compromise on anything,” referring to proponents of the ban.
One, Nance, fired back: “We do not and that is obnoxious.”
The president also heard from tobacco companies that have largely remained silent amid the noise around the long-awaited policy. Reynolds American Inc. sent its president and chief operating officer Joseph Fragnito, and Altria Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Howard Willard attended, according to people familiar with the matter.
A representative for Juul declined to comment. Representatives for Altria and Reynolds didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Juul Criticized
Juul, maker of the most popular e-cigarette device, has taken a series of steps to try to get ahead of any restrictions and ease concerns that its products have led to a surge in teen vaping. On top of slashing its marketing, digital, broadcast and print ads, the company has stopped selling its most popular flavors among youth users, mint and mango.