Politics & policy

The imposition of tariffs on goods entering the US could have unintended knock-on effects elsewhere in the world, the most obvious being a general increase to prices, even in places not involved in current tariff wars…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently highlighted the success of its Real Cost public health campaign in preventing youth e-cigarette uptake while nicotine pouch use is on the rise…

As coalition negotiations advance, a CDU/CSU-led government in Germany is expected to take a more lenient stance on novel tobacco products than the previous SPD-led administration…

While cigarette smoking in the US has dropped to its lowest level in 60 years, overall tobacco product use among adults has remained unchanged since 2017…

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is moving closer to adopting unified regulations for electronic alternatives to tobacco products, with a final draft approved by the GCC Standardization Organization in January…

Further price increases will result from the latest round of tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump on China – though downstream impact from tariffs on North American trading partners has again been delayed…

US HSS decision-makers have been shuttling staff between employment and dismissal, much like the Grand Old Duke of York in the nursery rhyme marches troops up and down a hill…

As the centre-right CDU/CSU prepares for a potential return to power in Germany, its stance on tobacco and nicotine policy is set to be a key point of negotiation with prospective coalition partners…

In a sharp policy reversal, France has dropped plans to tax nicotine pouches. It is now likely to pursue an outright ban through future legislation, following the Senate’s adoption of the 2025 Social Security Budget Bill…

The European Commission is taking a cautious approach to tobacco-related regulations, and key directives might not be revisited until 2026, but is it based on the whole truth?…

Packaging of US nicotine alternatives could face a major shake-up, thanks to First Amendment challenges against restrictions on what companies can say and do…

Discover the Tamarind Intelligence policy radar, providing detailed analyses and comparisons of the current regulatory frameworks and five-year forecasts for a broad selection of leading vapour and novel tobacco markets globally…

Predictions on what president Donald Trump will do have always been difficult. But some indicators point to a second go-around of the Trump administration providing a degree more stability and predictability…

New research “fails to show that youth vaping causes future smoking”, announces the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Should harm-reduction advocates reach for the champagne?…

The Polish Council of Ministers has adopted a draft bill to extend an excise tax to nicotine pouches and vaping and heating devices, including disposables…

This short report examines some of the most important changes implemented in our Policy Radar update for the second half of November, December and up until 10th January 2025…

The nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmentalist and vaccine sceptic, as US secretary of health could have indirect implications for the nicotine alternatives industry, even in Europe…

A second Health and Human Services secretary nomination hearing for Robert F Kennedy Jr. devolved into arguments over “science”, overshadowed by news of his alleged use of a nicotine pouch during his first hearing…