TOB Magazine

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[ 8 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL [ 01 / 02 | 17 ]
Shortly after the election, political commen-
tator and reporter David Gregory stated that
tobacco and convenience store retailers “will
welcome what comes out of a Republican
Congress and this Republican president,” al-
though he did not get specific.
Generally speaking, the hopefuls point out
that Trump is, ultimately, a business man, and
expect that he will get behind the mom-and-
pop retailers and manufacturers that exist in
the sector. The cynics point out that he is a
proud nonsmoker who may look the other way
and/or get behind Big Tobacco as the ultimate
beneficiary of current and pending legislation
and regulation.
Boutique cigar maker and icon Rocky Patel
is hoping for “executive relief ” for the smaller
players, noting that they are “somewhere on
that list of what needs to be saved. Otherwise,
tens of thousands of jobs will be lost in this
industry, including all the ancillary work—Fe-
dEx shipping jobs, printing jobs, advertising
jobs, everything associated with making and
selling cigars and it will be a chain effect,” he
tells Tobacco Business International, hoping his
plea won’t fall on deaf ears. “And it’s not just
the U.S.; jobs will be lost in the Dominican Re-
public, Honduras and Nicaragua—300,000
jobs are possibly affected there.” (See inter-
view, p. 26)
From the other opinion corner, premium
cigar maker Ernesto Padilla isn’t holding his
breath for Trump to save tobacco in its cur-
rently regulated state.
“Hitler didn’t like tobacco and neither does
Trump,” he states, somewhat in jest. “I don’t
think there are any indicators right now that
things will change for us. I just don’t see it. If
there is any regulation Trump will be in favor
of, it will be tobacco.” But Padilla also rec-
ognizes that the new regime “may not be as
harsh as Hillary would have been.”
FDA Picks and More
Meanwhile, industry news about Trump and
tobacco has swirled around a mostly hopeful
sentiment regarding FDA picks and the sup-
port of innovation.
reported in November that
even though it had been less than a year since
Dr. Robert Califf took over as the commission-
er of the FDA, the agency was already facing
post-election upheaval, with public health ad-
vocates bracing for a “seismic shift” as Trump
and his advisors, including Newt Gingrich, re-
portedly believe that the agency has long been
a barrier to innovation.
At press time, President-elect Trump was
reportedly considering naming Jim O’Neill, a
Silicon Valley investor and pro-innovation lib-
ertarian, as FDA Commissioner. In the past,
O’Neill has called for eliminating the FDA’s
mandate to determine whether new medicines
are effective before approving them for sale.
O’Neill also expressed disdain for the FDA’s
regulatory process while serving as principal
associate deputy secretary at the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) during
the George W. Bush administration.
Regarding the HHS, secretary nominee
Tom Price was outlined as a pro-vape and
tobacco supporter by the Vaping Post, which
noted that as a conservative Republican and
orthopedic surgeon for almost 20 years before
joining Congress, Price voted against the To-
bacco Control Act in both 2008 and 2009. It
The state of tobacco under aTrump
presidency is like a smoke-filled room
—not exactly a clear picture. But as we
embark on a new political era, hope is
clearly present, along with some cyni-
cism and reality.