Cola’s cult following is due to the beverage's cane sugar recipe, which fans say delivers a “completely different" taste, though experts warn it’s not much healthier

After President Trump announced that Coke will be made with cane sugar in the U.S., as it is in Mexico, foodies of Mexican heritage said in interviews that they weren’t excited.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WGHP) — A Mount Airy man was sentenced Friday for his alleged role in a cattle theft scheme targeting North Carolina stockyards and farms, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In August 2024, William Dalton Edwards, 26, pleaded guilty to “conspiring to defraud the United States and […]

Domestic corn production has been boosted by nearly a century of subsidies in the form of direct payments, crop insurance programs, and price supports for American farmers. These totaled reached $3.2 billion in 2024, making corn the most-subsidized crop in the country.

The clearest argument for cane sugar over corn syrup is taste. “You’ll see. It’s just better!” Trump said on Truth Social. Coke is made with cane sugar in Mexico and many other countries, and “Mexican Coke” has long had a cult following in the United States.

Does Coca-Cola made with cane sugar — aka Mexican Coke — really taste better than the U.S. version made with high-fructose corn syrup, as President Donald Trump claims? Not quite, according to some studies.

To produce one pound of HFCS, the industry uses around 2.5 pounds of corn, so a large shift in corn syrup use in the U.S. would hurt demand for the cereal, hurting corn growers, while probably boosting imports of cane sugar since there is not enough produced in the U.S. to satisfy American consumers' sweet tooth.

The debate over whether Coca-Cola should use high-fructose corn syrup or cane sugar in its signature cola obscures an important fact: Consumers are increasingly looking for Coke with no sugar at all.

President Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken to the Coca-Cola Company about using “REAL cane sugar in Coke” in the United States and that the company had agreed to begin adding it. A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola would not comment on whether it had agreed to do so.