Coca-Cola will launch version with U.S. cane sugar after Trump push

The Coca-Cola Company said Tuesday that it will launch a version of its signature drink made with U.S. 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.”

The Coke made with U.S. cane sugar will complement the company’s existing product line, the company added.

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 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, and high triglycerides and blood pressure. Both provide the same number of calories, but the body processes them differently.