Steph Deschamps / July 19, 2025
Coca-Cola has agreed to switch production in the United States from corn syrup to good old-fashioned cane sugar, U.S. President Donald Trump, himself a major consumer of the world's most famous soft drink, announced on Wednesday.
While the food giant uses conventional sucrose in Europe, American consumers swallow high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) through bubbles. “I've talked to Coca-Cola about using REAL cane sugar in Coke in the U.S., and they've agreed,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
"I'd like to thank everyone at Coca-Cola. It will be a very good decision on their part - you'll see. It's just better!" he enthused. “We appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic brand,” the American company briefly reacted on its website.
HFCS became widespread in the USA in the 1970s, thanks to government subsidies for corn growers and high tariffs on cane sugar.
Coca-Cola's decision could affect corn growers in the Corn Belt, a Midwestern region that is a major source of Donald Trump voters.
HFCS and sucrose, more commonly known as “table sugar”, are both composed of fructose and glucose. But their structure differs: HFCS contains free (unbound) fructose and glucose in varying proportions, whereas in sucrose, these two sugars are chemically bound.
However, these structural differences do not appear to have a significant impact on health. In 2022, clinical studies found no major difference between HFCS and sucrose in terms of weight gain or heart health.