Coca-Cola Chief Takes A Dig At Trump’s New Tariff Rules

Coca-Cola company’s chief executive, James Quincey, said that they may have to sell more drinks in plastic bottles if US president Donald Trump ended up making aluminium cans more expensive. During a call with the investors, the beverage company chief said “If one package suffers some increase in input costs, we continue to have other packaging offerings that will allow us to compete in the affordability space.”

Trump Tariff Order

Donald Trump’s government has ordered a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US. This move is expected to drive up the prices of can food and drink items in the country. As environmental groups have labelled Coca-Cola as a top producer of plastic for six consecutive months, the beverage giant has also tried to scale down its sustainability targets. 

However, the positive news is that for some time now, Coca-Cola has been selling more products in aluminium containers as part of its marketing and sustainability strategies. Despite being more expensive, aluminium cans are a lot more recyclable than plastic bottles.

However, since the US imports almost half of its aluminium, a 25% tariff on all imports is likely to increase the cost of aluminium cans within the US.

In a separate move, Trump ended a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.