Trump to pursue higher sales age for e-cigarettes

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says his administration will support raising the age to purchase electronic cigarettes from 18 to 21 in its upcoming plans to combat youth vaping.

Trump said Friday his administration will release its final plans for restricting e-cigarettes next week but provided few other details.

Currently the minimum age to purchase any tobacco or vaping product under federal law is 18. But more than a third of U.S. states have already raised their sales age to 21.

Administration officials were widely expected to release a plan this week for removing most flavoured e-cigarettes from the market. Those products are blamed for soaring rates of underage use by U.S. teenagers.

But details on the proposed flavour ban have yet to appear.