US President Donald Trump said Coca-Cola had agreed to sweeten its signature soft drink with cane sugar in the US, in what could represent a big shift from its decades-long use of high fructose corn syrup.
In a social media post on Wednesday, the US president said he had been speaking to Coca-Cola about “using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the US, and they have agreed to do so”. He hailed it as a “good move” by the Atlanta-based company, adding: “You’ll see. It’s just better.”
Coca-Cola already uses cane sugar in Coke distributed in the European Union, including in Ireland.
Mr Trump’s unexpected announcement inserted the White House into a long-running debate about the effects on health of different types of sugar – and has the potential to delight or alienate farmers in regions of the country where he has strong support.
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Neither Mr Trump nor Coca-Cola addressed questions about the shift late on Wednesday, including how Coca-Cola would source the volumes of cane sugar it would need or whether any cane-based cola would replace or complement current drink ingredients.
Coca-Cola said: “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”
While Coke’s plans remained vague, Mr Trump’s statement rippled through the beverage industry. Rival soft-drink maker PepsiCo was asked about it in an earnings call on Thursday morning.
“We’re following the consumer,” Ramon Laguarta, Pepsi’s chief executive, told analysts. “If the consumer is telling us that they prefer products that have sugar and they prefer products that have natural ingredients, we will give the consumer products that have sugar and have natural ingredients.”
US-produced Coca-Cola uses high fructose corn syrup, a highly processed sweetener whose effects on health in comparison with other forms of added sugars has long been a source of controversy.
High fructose corn syrup is derived from corn, whose base of production is in midwestern farm states such as Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska in rural counties that largely voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
US sugar cane is principally grown in the warm Gulf Coast states of Florida and Louisiana, while additional cane sugar is imported under a tariff quota system.
Shares of Archer Daniels Midland and Ingredion, two of the largest publicly traded corn processors, respectively plunged 6.3 per cent and 8.9 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday, but had pared most of their losses after Wall Street reopened on Thursday. Coke shares were up 0.8 per cent.
John Bode, chief executive of the Corn Refiners Association, said: “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.”
Coke’s bottlers used cane sugar in US production until the 1980s and continue to use it in most foreign production, including in Mexico, which has resulted in so-called Mexican Coke being favoured by some US consumers. Its special Kosher for Passover variation, known for its yellow tops, is also coveted by some consumers because it too uses sugar rather than corn syrup.
In a social media post, Coca-Cola said corn syrup was safe and had roughly the same calories as table sugar. “The name sounds complex, but high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – which we use to sweeten some of our beverages – is actually just a sweetener made from corn.”
Mr Trump’s announcement comes as his health secretary Robert Kennedy Jnr pursues a broader crackdown on highly processed foods. Earlier this week, the White House announced dozens of ice cream companies, representing more than 90 per cent of the ice cream volume sold in the US, had pledged to stop using certified artificial colours in their frozen dairy products.
While Mr Kennedy has attacked high fructose corn syrup, he has also taken an aggressive line against sugar in general. At an event earlier this year, he declared “sugar is poison”, not qualifying whether it came from corn, cane or another crop. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
