'Made in America' Vapes? How Chinese Manufacturers Are Outsmarting Trump's Crackdown

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Stars, stripes — and a factory in Shenzhen. A wave of "American-made" vape brands is hitting U.S. shelves. But some of them have Chinese fingerprints all over them.

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A $12 Billion Market Under Pressure

The United States is the world's largest vaping market. British American Tobacco estimates it was worth around $12 billion in 2024. For years, that market has been overwhelmingly supplied by Chinese manufacturers — particularly from the city of Shenzhen, the global capital of vape production.

Now, that dominance is being challenged — at least on paper.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. government has launched a sweeping campaign against unauthorized (meaning: unlicensed) vaping products. At the same time, Trump's aggressive tariff policy has made Chinese imports dramatically more expensive. The result: a sudden wave of brands claiming to be proudly "Made in America."

The problem? Some of those brands appear to be Chinese companies in disguise.

Flags, Stars, and Fake Origins

At least eight new vape brands emphasizing their American roots have appeared on U.S. store shelves since late 2024, according to a Reuters analysis. Most carry names and packaging designed to evoke patriotism — American flags, stars and stripes, phrases like "Built in the USA" or "Vape American."

One brand, Maxus Star, splashes its packaging with red, white, and blue imagery. Trademark records, however, show the "MAXUS" brand is owned by a Hong Kong-based company called Rivermountain (H.K.) Tech — which also holds Chinese trademarks linked to Freemax, a well-known Chinese vape manufacturer.

Another brand, OneTank, carries an American flag stamp and a "Made in USA" claim on its packaging. Business filings in China and U.S. trademark documents tie it to Shenzhen Onevape Technology, a Chinese firm.

Neither company responded to requests for comment, and the actual manufacturing locations could not be independently verified.

Why the Rebranding Push? Follow the Tariffs.

The timing is no coincidence. Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, vaping products imported from China have faced escalating tariffs. By April 2025, Chinese vapes were subject to a tariff rate of up to 79 percent — a combination of long-standing duties and new levies introduced under Trump's "Liberation Day" trade plan. At their peak, total customs duties on Chinese vaping products reached around 180 percent of the importer's cost.

For an industry operating on thin margins, those numbers are existential. A label that reads "Made in USA" — even if the claim is legally dubious — helps brands avoid the scrutiny of customs officials at the border, according to a Barclays analyst cited in the original Reuters investigation.

"If the illegal players have found another way to stay in the U.S. market," the analyst warned, then the expected shift from unauthorized to authorized products will slow considerably.

The FDA's Uphill Battle

The scale of the unlicensed vape problem in the United States is staggering. Illicit vape penetration sits at roughly 70% of the U.S. market today, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog. In other words, seven out of ten vapes sold in America have never received government approval.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — the agency responsible for approving vaping products — has authorized only a handful of devices for legal sale. As of September 2025, just 39 vaping products from four manufacturers had received authorization for legal sale in the United States.

The FDA has dramatically escalated enforcement. In May 2025, the FDA seized nearly two million units of unauthorized e-cigarettes valued at approximately $33.8 million at a Chicago port of entry. In September 2025, a joint operation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection resulted in the largest such seizure to date — 4.7 million units worth approximately $86.5 million, almost all from China.

The enforcement push came on the heels of a unanimous April 2025 Supreme Court ruling that confirmed the FDA's authority to reject applications for flavored e-cigarettes, shutting down a key legal challenge that had complicated regulatory efforts.

Despite all this, the agency is fighting a massive, fast-adapting black market. The FDA has made clear: unlicensed vapes are illegal regardless of where they are made. Country of origin provides no legal cover.

China Isn't Backing Down

The "Made in America" rebranding trend is emerging against a backdrop that tells a different story about China's actual presence in the U.S. market.

In October 2025, China recorded one of its highest-ever monthly vape export figures to the United States — 14.8 million kilograms. This came even as U.S. authorities were celebrating record seizures and publicly announcing enforcement progress.

Chinese e-cigarette exports to the United States surpassed $10 billion in 2025, according to trade data — a figure that dwarfs the value of seizures by federal agencies. Part of the explanation may lie in the de minimis exemption, which allows packages worth under $800 to enter the U.S. with minimal documentation and no duty, fueling "explosive growth" in direct-to-consumer shipments from Chinese manufacturers.

The Department of Justice has reported that unauthorized vapes are frequently smuggled from China and sold near schools and military bases — putting minors and service members at risk.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers wrote to the U.S. Trade Representative in March 2026 demanding that any future trade deal with China include binding commitments requiring Beijing to stop exporting e-cigarettes that violate U.S. law — noting that China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration oversees and effectively enables these exports.

A Health Crisis Wearing Patriotic Packaging

The real concern behind the debate isn't trade policy — it's public health. Unauthorized vapes are frequently designed to appeal to young people, featuring cartoon branding, candy flavors, and bright colors. Products have been found intentionally misdeclared and undervalued at U.S. ports of entry to evade customs duties and detection.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly condemned the flood of Chinese devices at a major seizure event, calling them "dangerous" products being dumped on the American market.

The Trump administration's combined approach — tariffs, FDA enforcement, border seizures, and trade pressure — represents a serious attempt to clean up a market that has operated in a legal gray zone for years. But as long as unauthorized vapes remain vastly cheaper and more widely available than licensed alternatives, Chinese manufacturers — and their American front labels — will keep finding ways through the door.

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Sources

1. Reuters – "Vape makers turn to 'Made in America' credentials amid Trump's tariffs, crackdown" (April 7, 2026): https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/vape-makers-turn-made-america-credentials-amid-trumps-tariffs-crackdown-2026-04-07/
2. Washington Examiner – "Chinese vape imports surge despite Trump administration's crackdown" (December 9, 2025): https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/3908636/chinese-vape-imports-surge-despite-trump-administrations-crackdown-data/
3. Mayer Brown Legal Analysis – "DOJ and FDA Increase Enforcement on Unauthorized Vape Sales" (September 2025): https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/09/doj-and-fda-increase-enforcement-on-unauthorized-vape-sales
4. Lowenstein Sandler – "Federal Government Increases Crackdown on Illegal Sale of Vapes" (December 2025): https://www.lowenstein.com/news-insights/publications/client-alerts/federal-government-increases-crackdown-on-illegal-sale-of-vapes-wcd
5. Vaping360 – "Tariffs on Chinese Vapes Will Hit 79%" (April 2025): https://vaping360.com/vape-news/8392/tariffs-on-chinese-vapes-will-hit-79-percent/
6. U.S. Congressional Letter to USTR re: Chinese Vapes (March 4, 2026): https://carey.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Carey-Chinese-Vapes-Letter.pdf
7. CSP Daily News – "How FDA Actions, Tax Hikes and Illicit Vape Crackdowns Reshaped the Back Bar in 2025" (December 2025): https://www.cspdailynews.com/tobacco/how-fda-actions-tax-hikes-illicit-vape-crackdowns-reshaped-back-bar-2025

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