Sugar Industry Seeks Trade Protection as MAHA Targets Added Sugar

Posted 5/22/26

The sugar industry’s push for a Section 301 investigation gives the Trump administration a politically useful farm-state trade case but an uncomfortable policy contradiction: USTR is being asked to defend domestic sugar prices and production just as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda is urging Americans to consume less added sugar. The request also highlights the sector’s continuing political muscle, with major sugar interests remaining significant Republican and Trump-aligned contributors.

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