President Donald Trump is stumping for a new Coke made with cane sugar — and may be snubbing the Midwest twice in the process.
Trump’s social media post Wednesday that the Coca-Cola Co. agreed with his push to tweak how it sweetens soda puts two big Midwest crops — corn and sugar beets — on the sidelines while elevating sugar cane that’s grown in environmentally sensitive areas in his home state of Florida.
Switching sweeteners “doesn’t make sense,” said John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, a trade group.
Regular Coke in the U.S. is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, as are most sodas in this country. Corn is more abundant and grown in more states, and corn syrup has advantages in texture, body and taste in beverage, according to the refiners’ group.
