President Trump said on Wednesday that Coca-Cola decided to use real cane sugar in its most popular soft drink in the U.S. because he asked them to. However, the company didn’t confirm that this would happen.
Any move away from high-fructose corn syrup in Coke sold in the US would be more in line with what Coca-Cola does in other countries, like Australia and Mexico. But Trump’s favorite drink, Diet Coke, which uses aspartame to make it calorie-free, would still be fine.
“Coca-Cola agreed to use REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States after I talked to them about it,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “I’d like to thank everyone in charge at Coca-Cola.” They’ll do a great thing with this—you’ll see. It’s better!”
The Coca-Cola Co., which is based in Atlanta, said in a statement that the company appreciated Trump’s excitement and that more information about new products would be shared soon.
Coca-Cola didn’t say more. But since 2005, the company has brought glass boxes of Mexican Coke into the U.S. to please people who like cane sugar.
Meanwhile, going back to sugar in U.S. production could have an effect on maize producers, whose crops are used to make fake sweeteners.
“Cane sugar doesn’t make sense” as a replacement for high fructose corn syrup, said John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association. “President Trump wants to cut the trade deficit, support American farmers, and create jobs in manufacturing.” It is not healthy to replace high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar because it would hurt farm income, cost thousands of jobs in food industry in the U.S., and increase sugar imports from other countries.
Trump loves Diet Coke so much that he had a red button put on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office so he could press it and have a White House butler serve him one.
Even though he likes Diet Coke, his relationship with the company hasn’t always been good.
In a series of posts in 2012, Trump said that diet soda might make you gain weight. He then wrote, “The Coca-Cola company is not happy with me—that’s okay, I’ll still keep drinking that garbage.”
At a G20 meeting in 2017, a bottle of Diet Coke was seen next to his chair, years after the fact. That same year, The New York Times said he drank twelve Diet Cokes every day.
