Make America sweet again: Trump declares war on corn syrup
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Coca-Cola KO.N had agreed to use cane sugar in its beverages in the U.S. after his discussions with the company.
“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
A spokesperson for Coca-Cola said the Atlanta-based company will share details on new offerings soon, and that it appreciates Trump’s enthusiasm for its product.
Coca-Cola produced for the U.S. market is typically sweetened with corn syrup, while the company uses cane sugar in some other countries.
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, named for the social movement aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pushed food companies to alter their formulations to remove ingredients like artificial dyes.
Kennedy has also been critical of the amount of sugar consumed in the American diet and has said that updated dietary guidelines released this summer will advise Americans to eat “whole food.”
A May report by the MAHA Commission, a panel convened by Trump and tasked with identifying the root causes of chronic disease, said substantial consumption of high-fructose corn syrup could play a role in childhood obesity and other conditions.
Medical experts recommend limiting added sugar in diets, but have not identified significant differences between cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
Corn producers concentrated in the U.S. Midwest have long wielded considerable influence over lawmakers in Washington. The president’s home state of Florida is the nation’s top sugarcane producer.
“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” said Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode. “Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The MAHA Commission includes Kennedy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and several other cabinet members and officials.
The Trump administration has approved some states’ requests to exclude soda from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), adding pressure to companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.