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Squashed between his Truth Social announcements that fentanyl is now a Schedule I drug, President Trump made a surprising declaration related to his own favorite addictive substance: Coke (the drink).
“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,” he proclaimed. “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!”
Coca-Cola responded to Trump’s message merrily. “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,” the company said in a statement.
But lost somewhere in the thunderous applause reverberating on X, a growl emerged from the Corn Refiners Association. In a statement issued yesterday evening, the corn-milling industry’s president, John Bode, called Trump’s move un-American, irrational and – sure – unhealthy. Since the 1990s, American Coke manufacturers have lowered production costs by using high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten the drink. While cane sugar is inherently a bit more expensive to grow than corn, the price difference is exacerbated by the US subsidizing corn and tariffing cane sugar imports.
“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” Bode wrote. “President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers and reducing the trade deficit. Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”
It’s particularly amusing to Cockburn that America’s top corn-syrup advocate resists switching Coke’s recipe to cane sugar, because it has “no nutritional benefit.” Let’s not fool ourselves. Any resistance that lobbyists have to changing Coke’s ingredients comes not from a health concern, but from a market concern. If they were really here for health, they’d make more press releases about soft drinks being linked to cancer.
But, cancer is not the subject at hand; it is the liberation of Americans from bad Coke. Let the people drink the better Coke, John. They want it. They want the crisper, more delectable Coke – the Coke that doesn’t leave your mouth tingling with a weird sweet corn taste.
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