Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist who has financed efforts to combat tobacco use around the world for years, has a new target: e-cigarettes in the United States.

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Tuesday it would spend $160 million over three years to try to ban flavored e-cigarettes, which, it said, are specifically designed to entice kids to vape.

The vaping initiative is Bloomberg’s first anti-tobacco effort aimed at the United States, according to officials of Bloomberg Philanthropies. [...]