President Donald Trump’s seeming attempt to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein debacle by claiming he had single-handedly changed the recipe of Coca-Cola has quickly turned from sweet to sour.
Days after he longingly wondered what was going on with his “‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals,’” the long-time Diet Coke aficionado announced on Wednesday that Coca-Cola had agreed to use real sugar rather than corn syrup in its drinks made within the U.S.
“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”
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However, on Wednesday, the Atlanta-based soft drink giant did not confirm the critical change the president said he’d negotiated with the company or elaborate on any switch-up of their recipe.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson told the Daily Beast, “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range will be shared soon.”
It remains unclear whether the proposal has been accepted.
Coca-Cola made with real cane sugar, or “white sugar” is a popular preference to the high fructose corn syrup-based version that is more common in the U.S.
However, what Trump neglected to mention in his post is that the country most closely associated with the tastier Coke is one of his most frequent scapegoats: Mexico. “Mexican Coke” is made with real sugar, a distinction which has been maintained by an ongoing trade war over sugar between the U.S. and Mexico that predates Trump’s tariff tantrums.
America is the world’s largest producer, consumer, and exporter of corn, with 90 million acres of corn planted by U.S. farmers annually.
Beverage Digest editor Duane Stanford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a change to Coke’s long-standing recipe would be an immense commercial proposition.
“It’s unclear the scale of what Trump is pushing for here, but a wholesale conversion would be complex and unlikely,” Stanford said.
If Trump hoped that the momentary sugar high would distract from the recent Epstein files backlash, he seemed to be mistaken. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among those who mocked the president’s “announcement.”
Meanwhile, replacing corn syrup with cane sugar will probably not make Coke much healthier. Michael Jacobson, a food activist who successfully lobbied the government to make nutrition labels mandatory, has said that the notion that high-fructose corn syrup is especially toxic is an “urban myth.”
Trump himself is unlikely to benefit from any potential improved flavor profile of cane sugar Coke: the president already has a “Diet Coke button” installed on the Oval Office’s Resolute desk. Diet Coke contains no sugar.
