Trump says Coca-Cola will use real sugar in its US flagship drink. The company isn’t confirming that

WASHINGTON (AP) — Make American Coke Great Again?

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship soft drink in the U.S. at his suggestion — though the company didn’t confirm such a move.

Any switch from high-fructose corn syrup in Coke sold in the United States would put Coca-Cola more in line with its practice in other countries, including Mexico and Australia. But it wouldn’t affect Trump’s drink of choice, Diet Coke, which uses aspartame as a calorie-free beverage.

“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 on his social media site. “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!”

A spokesperson for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. said in a statement that the company appreciated Trump’s enthusiasm and promised that more details on new offerings within its products would be shared soon.

Coca-Cola didn’t elaborate. But the company has long indulged U.S. fans of cane sugar by importing glass bottles of Mexican Coke to the U.S. since 2005.

Returning to sugar in U.S. production, meanwhile, might affect the nation’s corn farmers, whose yields are used in artificial sweeteners.

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode said in a statement. “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.”

Trump himself is such a fan of Diet Coke that that he had a red button installed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that he can press to have a White House butler bring one in for him.

Despite his fondness for Diet Coke, his relationship with the company hasn’t always been sweet.

In a series of posts in 2012, Trump suggested diet soda might be connected to weight gain before eventually writing, “The Coca Cola company is not happy with me — that’s okay, I’ll still keep drinking that garbage.”

A bottle of Diet Coke could be seen sitting next to his chair years later, at a G20 summit in 2017. And The New York Times reported in 2018 that he was drinking a dozen Diet Cokes daily.

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Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this story.