Resident fellow Thomas Bollyky's piece in The Atlantic on international tobacco control.
From the Article
We want to stop American kids from smoking—so why don't we seem to care as much about Asian or African kids?
It was 1997 when Senator John McCain asked that question on the floor of the Senate about U.S. trade policy on tobacco. Nearly 15 years later, that question is still being asked. Thankfully, new trade talks on tobacco—the first launched by the Obama administration—may provide an answer, finally bridging the gap between our domestic and international policies.
For most of the eighties and nineties, domestic and international policies on tobacco diverged. At home, innovative anti-smoking campaigns, higher excise taxes, and civil and criminal lawsuits cut 1965 smoking rates in half for American adults. Abroad, U.S. trade officials pressured emerging Asian economies to open their markets to imported cigarettes. The entry of multinational tobacco companies sharply increased tobacco use in these countries, which were unprepared for intensive marketing, particularly to women and youth.
These companies now employ the same tactics in developing countries—including cartoon characters, billboards, and music sponsorships—that are prohibited in the United States.In 2001, President Clinton issued an executive order barring U.S. government agencies from promoting the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco products abroad. That order remains, but so does the gulf between domestic and international tobacco policy. While we crack down domestically with higher taxes and graphic warning labels, nearly every trade and investment agreement that the U.S. has negotiated over the last decade reduces tobacco tariffs and helps protect tobacco investments overseas.
Trade liberalization is driving up tobacco use in poor countries. Tariff reductions lower the price of imported cigarettes in developing nations that lack the strong taxation systems to compensate. Meanwhile, cigarette companies use investments in local tobacco production and so-called "corporate social responsibility" programs to win government allies and future customers, and they use dispute resolution, which is built in to trade and investment agreements, to block tobacco labeling and advertising restrictions. These companies now employ the same tactics in developing countries—including cartoon characters, billboards, and music sponsorships—that are prohibited in the United States. Young women, who have historically smoked less than men in most parts of the developing world, are a major target.