Trump Administration Withdraws Plan to Ban Menthol Cigarettes

The Trump administration has withdrawn a proposed rule from FDA that would have banned menthol cigarettes.

The proposed rule, which had been in the works since mid-2022, was listed as “Withdrawn” as of January 21 on an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) webpage. Approval by the OMB is one of the last steps before a final rule is issued.

When the rule was initially announced, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement that the rule “would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit. Additionally, the proposed [rule represents] an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.” An estimated 80% of Black smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, compared with 30% of white smokers.

However, the Biden administration has delayed the final rule several times recently, saying it would be published in August 2023, then pushing that date back to the end of the year, and then saying it would be published in March 2024. When asked about the delays, an FDA spokesperson said in an email in January 2024 that the agency “remains committed to issuing the tobacco product standards for menthol in cigarettes and characterizing flavors in cigars as expeditiously as possible; these rules have been submitted to OMB for review, which is the final step in the rulemaking process. As we’ve made clear, these product standards remain at the top of our priorities.”

HHS delayed the rule again in April 2024. “This rule has garnered historic attention and the public comment period has yielded an immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement,” Becerra said in a very brief statement posted April 26 on the HHS website. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time.”

One possible reason previously suggested by observers for the delay is that the Biden administration might have been afraid that issuing the rule could alienate Black voters before the presidential election. But even after the election, the rule did not move forward.

Asked via email in late November 2024 for a comment on the rule’s progress, an FDA spokesperson referred MedPage Today to a video clip of an interview that then-FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, had given at the previous week’s Friends of Cancer Research annual meeting. When asked what he wanted to accomplish in his last few months as FDA commissioner, Califf replied, “The big deal for the public health is tobacco and food. There are major things there we’re hoping to get done. It’s publicly known that the menthol rule has been an issue.”

An FDA spokesperson said that beyond the video, the agency “[doesn’t] have any additional updates at this time.”

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids panned the Trump administration’s decision. “It is deeply disappointing that the FDA’s rule to prohibit menthol cigarettes was not finalized in a timely manner and has now been withdrawn,” the organization said in a tweet. “We strongly support eliminating menthol cigarettes to end the tobacco industry’s decades-long, predatory marketing of these deadly products to kids, Black Americans, and other communities. We will continue to build support for eliminating menthol cigarettes nationwide. In the meantime, it is more critical than ever that states and cities step up their efforts to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.”

The action by the Trump administration is not a surprise, according to Erika Sward, assistant vice president for nationwide advocacy at the American Lung Association (ALA). “It is standard at the beginning of a new presidential administration for all rules that are pending to be swept back to the agencies,” she said in a phone interview. The ALA “remains deeply disappointed that President Biden did not finalize these two rules — the menthol cigarette rule and a rule banning flavored cigars — when he had the opportunity. Lives will be lost because of it.”

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