Donald Trump pushes Coca-Cola to use cane sugar, much to the dismay of Midwest corn farmers

Are you corn syrup or sugarcane? The question has been plaguing the United States ever since Coca-Cola confirmed on Tuesday, July 22, that it would now produce part of its sugary beverage sold in the United States from sugarcane.

Donald Trump, a big fan of Diet Coke—which is unsweetened but sweetened with aspartame—had let the cat out of the bag on July 16, welcoming the Atlanta giant's switch. "I've talked to Coca-Cola about using real cane sugar in its beverages in the United States, and they've agreed. I want to thank all the people in charge [of the company]," the president said in a message posted on his Truth Social platform. "This will be a very good initiative on their part—you'll see. It's even better!"

The culprit is the high-glucose corn syrup used in Coca-Cola: this sugar is in the crosshairs of Donald Trump and his health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr., who has made his fight against junk food his priority. "MAHA is winning," Mr. Kennedy posted on X on July 19 about this - the acronym MAHA, modeled on Donald Trump's "MAGA" ("Make America Great Again"), meaning "Make America Healthy Again."

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