The Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday that it will launch a version of its signature drink made with American cane sugar.
The announcement comes days after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had “been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so.”
Initially, Coca-Cola did not confirm the news. The company told NBC News last week that it appreciated Trump’s “enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand” but that “details…will be shared soon.”
The company said in its earnings release Tuesday morning that a version of the drink with cane sugar was indeed coming later this year.
“As part of its ongoing innovation agenda, this fall in the United States, the company plans to launch an offering made with U.S. cane sugar to expand its Trademark Coca-Cola product range,” its news release said.
Coca-Cola produced for the U.S. market is typically sweetened with corn syrup, while the company uses cane sugar in some other countries, including Mexico and various European countries. In the United States, Coca-Cola made with cane sugar is colloquially known as “Mexican Coke” as it’s often imported from the United States’ southern neighbor.
The Coke made with U.S. cane sugar will complement the company’s existing product line, the company added.
Coca-Cola already uses cane sugar in the company’s tea, lemonade, coffee and Vitamin Water offerings, CEO James Quincey said on an earnings call Tuesday morning.
“I think that it will be an enduring option for consumer,” he said. “We are definitely looking to use the whole toolkit of available sweetening options where there are consumer preferences.”
Last week, Trump said, “This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, named for the social movement aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pushed food companies to alter their formulations to remove ingredients like artificial dyes.
While taste preferences may differ, the health impact of cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup is essentially the same.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said that “both high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar are about 50% fructose, 50% glucose, and have identical metabolic effects.”
That is, both can equally raise the risk for obesity, diabetes, high triglycerides and blood pressure. Both provide the same number of calories, but the body processes them differently.
The CEO of the Corn Refiners Association said last week that “replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense” given Trump’s support of American farmers.
“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,” he added in a statement.
U.S. cane sugar is primarily produced in Texas, Florida and Louisiana, according to the Agriculture Department. However, domestic production accounts for only 30% of total U.S. sugar supply. The rest comes from sugar beets or is imported.
Trump has had a long and mostly friendly relationship with Coca-Cola’s products. In 2012, he said on Twitter that Coke was not happy with him but “that’s ok, I’ll still keep drinking that garbage.” Trump also wrote on social media the same year that drinking Diet Coke “makes you happy.”
In January, Quincey traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and presented him with a custom bottle commemorating his upcoming inauguration.
Erika Edwards and Rebecca Cohen contributed.
