The US Department Of Health And The Department Of Justice Jointly Conducted A Raid On A Warehouse in The Suburbs Of Chicago, Seizing A Large Quantity Of E-cigarette Products.

At around 10 a.m. on the 10th, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP), conducted a surprise inspection of Midwest Goods, an electronic cigarette wholesaler in Bensenville, Illinois. During the inspection, they seized unauthorized electronic cigarette cartridges worth millions of dollars, belonging to multiple brands. Attorney General Bondi and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally arrived at the scene and stated that "most of the illegal products originated from China", emphasizing that "we will not allow harmful sweet-smelling cigarette cartridges to continue flowing into the community."

This operation is another blow from federal agencies to the "China-US" gray channel of e-cigarettes after the $33.8 million case in Chicago in February. Official data shows that since 2025, the FDA and CBP have intercepted over 6 million illegal e-cigarettes worth $120 million, with nearly 90% of them being mixed into the United States through underreporting of value, false declaration of product names (such as "toys, shoe accessories"), etc.
1. Scene: Multiple brands and millions of dollars worth of goods were seized
Midwest Goods claimed on LinkedIn to be "one of the largest e-cigarette wholesalers in the United States". The company's statement said that the goods seized were mostly open-air e-liquids submitted to the FDA for PMTA (pre-market application) before September 2020, "having waited for approval for over five years, far beyond the legal 180-day deadline"; the FDA directly seized them on the grounds of "unauthorized". The company stated that "it is cooperating with the investigation and will defend in court if necessary".
2. Background: 24 importers have received the first "warning letter"
On May 22, the FDA issued the "import information letter" to 24 importers and customs brokers engaged in the "China-US" route, requiring them to submit a compliance rectification plan within 30 days, otherwise they will face criminal prosecution. Reuters investigation found that the official statistics of China's electronic cigarette exports to the United States in 2024 was $3.6 billion, while the United States only recorded $333 million, "the difference accounting for 90%" was achieved through false declaration, splitting invoices, and receiving goods through shell companies.
3. Analysis of reasons: Three forces driving "whole-government" crackdown
1. Teenagers using e-cigarettes: Although the e-cigarette usage rate among high school students in the United States has dropped to 7.5% in 2025, fruit and candy-flavored disposable cigarettes still account for 85% of new users' first attempts. The "Truth Initiative" organization said that if the supply of illegal flavors is not cut off, the goal of reducing the smoking rate among teenagers to <2% by 2030 will be unachieved.
2. Political cycle: Democratic Representative Krishnamurthy of the House launched the second round of congressional investigation into illegal e-cigarettes from China in September, directly pointing to the FDA's "standing by idly"; while the Republican camp's Senator Kennedy wrote "clearing Chinese sweet-flavored cigarettes" into the HHS youth health strategy, aiming to accumulate political achievements for the 2026 midterm elections.
3. Industry competition: The FDA currently only approves 39 e-cigarettes for legal sales, with Altria and British American Tobacco accounting for 60-70% of the share. Wall Street analysts estimated that illegal products still occupy 70% of the retail market, with sales of $8.1 billion in 2024, and the "regular army" demands that the government accelerate the clearance, which will push the government to seize or report competitors in exchange for market share.

4. Supply chain impact: Customs brokers and logistics companies face criminal risks
CBP executed 121 e-cigarette seizures at the Chicago port in 2024, with a cumulative value of $81.5 million. Industry insiders disclosed that some domestic freight forwarders have suspended "e-cigarette business without PMTA numbers", and US shipping costs have increased by 15%-20%. Several factories in Dongguan and Shenzhen plan to shift orders to Southeast Asia "branding", to avoid the "Made in China" label.
5. Outlook： The "PMTA dam" may face batch rejection
In an August memo, FDA Tobacco Center Director Brian King clearly stated： Non-tobacco flavors need to prove "incremental benefits for adult smokers" to pass the review, while "open system e-liquids" will be "prioritized for rejection" due to the difficulty in tracking the abuse risks among teenagers. Legal experts predict that in the fourth quarter of 2025, the FDA may reject over a million backlog applications at once, providing a "judicial fast track" for subsequent seizures.
6. Conclusion
From the warning letter to the surprise warehouse raid, the United States is upgrading "whole-government" law enforcement to "whole-chain" crackdown： Chinese factories at the source, customs brokers in the middle, US wholesalers, and end retailers at the terminal, all are within the scope of the scope. For those enterprises that still attempt to bypass regulations through "obscure reporting", the criminal risks and exorbitant fines are rapidly outweighing the profit allure. The window period for the "grey silk road" of electronic cigarettes is coming to an end.