President Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken to the Coca-Cola Company about using “REAL cane sugar in Coke” in the United States and that the company had agreed to begin adding it. A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola would not comment on whether it had agreed to do so.
“We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand,” the spokeswoman, Michelle Agnew, said in a statement. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”
Mr. Trump’s announcement on social media did not mention high-fructose corn syrup, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed in part for the obesity epidemic. Ms. Agnew did not respond to questions about whether Coca-Cola had agreed to use sugar exclusively instead of corn syrup, which the company began using in Coke in 1980, blending it with sugar to help defray the cost of rising sugar prices.
Without stating whether it would return to using sugar in regular Coke, Coca-Cola said on X on Wednesday evening that corn syrup was “safe” and “just a sweetener made from corn.”
“It has about the same number of calories per serving as table sugar and is metabolized in a similar way by your body,” the company said.
Coca-Cola already makes a soft drink sweetened by cane sugar known as Mexican Coke, or MexiCoke. Backed by a cultlike following, the drink once entered the United States from Mexico through unauthorized independent dealers. But in 2005 Coca-Cola began importing Mexican Coke to Texas, gradually expanding its distribution across the country, and it can now be found in supermarkets and bodegas in neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations.
Coca-Cola also makes a Kosher-for-Passover version of Coke, which is made with sugar instead of corn syrup for observant Jews who avoid corn (and other grains) and which can be found in bottles with yellow caps.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
The post Trump Says Coca-Cola Agreed to Use Real Sugar in U.S. But Coca-Cola Refuses to Confirm. appeared first on New York Times.
