Coca-Cola to Introduce Cane Sugar Option Amid Pressure from Trump

Coca-Cola announced on Tuesday that it plans to offer both a high fructose corn syrup option and a cane sugar version in the U.S. This comes after some pressure from President Donald Trump, as mentioned in the company’s earnings report.

“As part of our ongoing innovation agenda, we’ll be launching a service made from U.S. sugarcane this fall to expand our Coca-Cola product range,” Coca-Cola stated in its second-quarter report. The new Cane Sugar Coke is expected to hit the U.S. market in the fall of 2025, according to these earnings findings.

Though the report didn’t directly reference Trump, he made headlines on July 17, claiming he successfully convinced the soda giant to switch to cane sugar via social media. He noted, “I’ve been talking to Coca-Cola about using real cane sugar in American Cola, and they agreed to do so.”

Coca-Cola’s classic Coke is primarily made with cane sugar in various regions, such as most European countries, China, India, Indonesia, and Mexico, with the latter often referred to as “Mexican Coke” when imported to the U.S.

The company asserts that high fructose corn syrup is not necessarily worse than cane sugar for health. They stated, “It’s safe. It has roughly the same calories as table sugar, and is metabolized in a similar way by your body,” following Trump’s announcement.

However, some, including Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have expressed concerns about corn syrup. Kennedy Jr. previously called sweeteners “an important ingredient in highly processed foods” and noted their role in childhood obesity.

Until the 1980s, Coca-Cola used cane sugar in its American products, but the switch to high fructose corn syrup was partly due to the U.S. government’s corn subsidies making it cheaper.

Some commentators have highlighted that government subsidies supporting corn, wheat, and soybeans have exceeded $200 billion since 1995, pushing industrial food production.