Trump announces: Coca-Cola will use cane sugar in the US. But for the American agricultural industry it is a shock

Coca-Cola shares remained stable, waiting for more details that may come on 22 July, the day set for the publication of quarterly results.

On a geopolitical and economic level, the move could have major repercussions. The US produces about 30% of its sugar from cane, mainly in Florida and Louisiana; the rest comes from beets or imports, subject to quotas and tariffs. The Corn Refiners Association sharply criticised the proposal, speaking of 'thousands of jobs at risk', falling farm incomes, and increased imports of sugar from abroad.

This announcement, more symbolic than operational at the moment, shows how Trump's second term is attempting to intervene directly in American corporate dynamics, touching deep cultural (and sometimes symbolic) chords.

This is not the first time that the former tycoon has tried to influence the choices of a consumer goods giant: back in 2021 he had threatened boycotts against Coca-Cola for its opposition to restrictive voting laws in Georgia. However, he had never stopped drinking Diet Coke, a soft drink of which he is famously an avid consumer - so much so that he had a 'Diet Coke button' in the Oval Office. (On the Resolute Desk, the presidential desk in the Oval Office, during Trump's first term he had a small red button installed inside a wooden box. It was not, as one might think, an emergency button: pressing it immediately brought a waiter a can of Diet Coke on a silver tray).

Ultimately, the 'sugar war' could become the next front in Trumpian industrial policy: less processed, more 'Made in America'. Provided the Diet Coke red button keeps working.