Coca-Cola to bring cane sugar version to U.S. in line with Trump’s ‘MAHA’ claims

Coca-Cola announced plans on Tuesday to distribute in the United States a version of its signature soft drink with cane sugar, a move that comes after Diet Coke-loving President Donald Trump took credit last week for pressuring the company to switch.

Trump’s administration would have you believe this change is some sort of pro-health coup. When, for example, fast-food company Steak n’ Shake announced plans to distribute Coke with cane sugar last weekend, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed, “MAHA is winning,” referring to the so-called Make America Healthy Again movement.

As The Washington Post points out, Kennedy told a radio show in 2023, “High-fructose corn syrup. That is poison. … Clearly it is linked to the obesity epidemic. It’s linked to the diabetes epidemic.” He went on to tout so-called Mexican Coke “because they don’t have it in it.”