Trump trade war could lead to flood of cheap Chinese e-cigarettes in UK

Chinese companies are likely to flood Britain with cheap vapes, researchers have warned, as manufacturers seek to capitalise on the world's second biggest market in response to Donald Trump's tariffs.

- Mabel Banfield-Nwachi Olivia Lee

A trade standoff between Washington and Beijing has thrown the business world into chaos, with investors watching as each country dares the other to blink first.

After last week's uneasy truce, the total US import tax on Chinese-made vapes stands at about 60%. That has sent China's $11.1bn (£8.4bn) e-cigarette export industry, already scarred by stringent domestic restrictions in 2022, back to the drawing board.

At the same time, the UK's forthcoming ban on disposable vapes, which aims to cut the number of devices thrown away - about 8m a week - and stop young people from taking up the habit, has brought new models of vape onto the market.

Deborah Arnott, an honorary associate professor at University College London and a former chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said China's natural response would be to target the UK. "With reduced access to the US, there will be growing competition to sell to the UK market, as it's the main alternative," she said.

Factory owners have already felt the pinch over the past few weeks of global uncertainty, according to Dr Steve Shaowei Xu at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, an expert on the Chinese e-cigarette industry.