Cotton Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Illegal Chinese Vapes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
April 16, 2026

Cotton Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Illegal Chinese Vapes

Washington, DC — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) yesterday introduced legislation to protect Arkansas youth by cracking down on dangerous, illicit Chinese vapes. The Eliminating Nefarious Distribution of Smuggled Chinese Vapes Act (ENDS Chinese Vapes Act) increases penalties for importers of illegal vapes. In 2025, Senator Cotton wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary expressing concern about the distribution of illicit Chinese nicotine products.

“Dangerous, illegal Chinese vapes threaten the health of our children. My bill would increase the penalty on companies that enable Communist China to sell these dangerous devices in American markets,” said Senator Cotton.

Text of the bill can be found here.

The Eliminating Nefarious Distribution of Smuggled Chinese Vapes (ENDS Chinese Vapes) Act would:

• Establish escalated civil penalties specifically for any person who imports or attempts to import illegal vapes into the United States.
  • Penalty Structure:
    • $500 per vape unit for violations involving ordinary negligence.
    • $1,000 per vape unit for violations involving gross negligence.
    • $5,000 per vape unit for violations involving fraud or knowing mislabeling.
    • Penalties double if the shipment involved transshipment, false country-of-origin declarations, or other evasion tactics, and triple for repeat offenders within a three-year period. The combined penalty is capped at 1,000 percent of the shipment's estimated retail value in the United States.

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