The House recently passed a package of pro-growth policies included in President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” It’s a bold package of tax cuts, pro-family policies, and investments in American prosperity. But one critical piece of this legislation now hangs in the balance: closing the “double duty drawback loophole” for tobacco.

This outrageous provision allows foreign tobacco companies to get an excise tax refund on exports when they never paid the tax on exports in the first place. The loophole is something only foreign tobacco companies receive; American consumers and tobacco companies pay the full tax bill.

It’s a scam, and the taxpayer is footing the bill for foreign cigarette manufacturers. The cost is staggering: $12 billion over 10 years.

How are we ever going to get serious about any kind of big debt reduction if we can’t close obvious loopholes like this? This is the easy stuff; it’s a waste and abuse of our tax system and the taxpayer.

Trump saw this scam for what it was back in 2018, fighting to close the loophole as part of his push to level the playing field. But the courts blocked him, saying........

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