Ag Policy Blog

President Donald Trump shook up the soda and sugar world on Wednesday by claiming on social media Coca-Cola is going to use cane sugar it is soda instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

Trump posted on Truth Social that he had talked with Coca-Cola executives about making the change.

"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. This will be a very good move by them – You'll see. It's just better!"

In a statement, Coca-Cola did not specifically confirm the president's statement but indicated there are new innovations coming to the company's soda brands. "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."

Coca-Cola already uses sugar cane in its Mexican version of Coke, which also can be found in some U.S. stores.

According to USDA, high-fructose corn syrup demand adds anywhere from 5 cents to 15 cents to the per-bushel price of corn, depending on market conditions.

John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, responded with a statement about soda reformulations.

"Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn't make sense. President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers, and reducing the trade deficit. 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."

It is also worth noting Trump did not specifically call for Coke to swap out all of its high-fructose corn syrup for sugar cane, but he simply said Coca-Cola was going to use sugar cane in its product. That could be accomplished with a novelty product rather than wholesale reformulation. Still, Trump did give the endorsement, "It's just better!"

USDA shows in 2023 about 5.7 million short tons of high-fructose corn syrup were consumed in the U.S. Roughly two-thirds, or 3.8 million tons, went into beverages, mainly soft drinks.

Focusing on cane sugar also leaves out the sugar beet guys, who produce the same refined product as cane sugar.

Looking at sugar production and supplies, the U.S. is projected to produce nearly 4.1 million short tons of sugar cane this year and 5.1 million short tons from sugar beets. Cane sugar is mainly produced in Florida and Louisiana. The U.S. is also projected to import another 2.48 million tons of sugar as well, according to the July WASDE report.

The deeply flawed "Make America Healthy Again" report released in May criticized high-fructose corn syrup as a key example of "ultra-processed" sugars contributing to childhood chronic diseases, calorie consumption, suggesting it was contributing to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

At that time, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) responded that per-capita consumption of high-fructose corn syrup had declined 41% going back to 2000 while rates of obesity and diabetes went up. "To be specific, the obesity rate tracked by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention jumped from 30% to 40%; the CDC diabetes rate jumped from 9.7% to 15.8%," CRA cited.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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