U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday (17) what may be refreshing news for some Americans: thanks to him, Coca-Cola is changing its American recipe.
“I have been talking with Coca-Cola about using REAL cane sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I would like to thank everyone responsible at Coca-Cola,” Trump said in a social media post.
“This will be a great decision on their part—you’ll see. It’s simply better!”
A spokesperson for The Coca-Cola Company did not confirm the change, but told CNN in a statement: “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand. More details about innovative new offerings within our Coca-Cola product line will be shared soon.”
Trump announced the bubbling development on a day otherwise consumed by instability in the Middle East, speculation about whether he will fire the Federal Reserve chairman, and growing outrage from his MAGA base over his administration’s handling of the investigation into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The president’s devotion to Diet Coke has been well-documented, including his “Diet Coke button,” a small wooden box with a red button on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that summons a presidential aide to deliver the drink.
However, he has clashed with the company in the past, including in 2021, when Coca-Cola spoke out against voting restrictions in his home state of Georgia. His properties, however, continued to sell their products.
Even in 2012, the then-businessman publicly stated that the company was “not happy” with him, but admitted, “It’s okay, I’ll keep drinking that crap.”
Things seemed to sweeten in January when Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey presented Trump with an Inaugural Bottle of Diet Coke before his second inauguration.
This commemorative bottle—and Trump’s announcement on Wednesday—are just a few of many examples that underscore the president’s newfound power in corporate America in his second term.
American Coca-Cola is made with high-fructose corn syrup, something Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has aggressively opposed. Its Mexican counterpart is made with cane sugar, a major export of the country, and is commercially available in the U.S.