It comes after Trump ordered a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, which could end up driving up the price of canned food and drink items in the country.

In December, the beverage giant scaled down its sustainability target of using 50% recycled materials in its packaging by 2030, to using 35% to 40% by 2035.

Environmental groups have labelled Coca-Cola as the “top global plastic polluter” for six consecutive years.

“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,” Quincey said.

“For example, if aluminium cans become more expensive, we can put more emphasis on PET [plastic] bottles”.

The Coca-Cola boss also sought to minimise the impact of the tariffs on his business saying packaging is only a relatively small component of his company’s costs.

In recent years, Coca-Cola had been selling more products in aluminium containers as part of its marketing and sustainability strategies.

Despite being generally more expensive, aluminium cans are also a lot more recyclable than plastic bottles over time.

The US imports almost half of the aluminium it uses, according to the United States Geological Survey, so a 25% tariff on all imports is likely to cause cans to become even more costly.

After Trump first ordered tariffs on steel in 2018, many can-makers won “exclusions” from those import taxes.

But this time, Trump has said there will be no exemptions from the rules either for individual products or for particular countries.

In a separate move that is likely to contribute to plastic pollution, Trump signed an executive order earlier this week ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.

The order reversed a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.

Cans of Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, and Sprite Zero sent to cafes and restaurants are being withdrawn as well as 6x250ml Appletiser multipacks sent to UK supermarkets.

The announcement follows a larger recall of Coca-Cola products across Europe on Monday.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, the firm’s bottling partner, said the risk of illness was “very low”.

The affected cans carry production codes from 328 GE to 338 GE on their base.

The majority of Coca-Cola products, including standard cans, and all glass and plastic bottles sold in the UK are not affected, the firm said.

The UK recall comes after Coca-Cola products were pulled from the shelves in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on Monday.

The higher levels of chlorate were discovered during routine testing at the company’s production facility in Ghent, Belgium, according to an unnamed company spokesperson quoted by the AFP news agency.

Coca-Cola said at the time just five product lines had been shipped to Britain, and they had already been sold. It added it had “alerted the authorities”.

However, on Wednesday, the firm confirmed a UK recall “following ongoing dialogue with the UK Food Standards Agency”.

Chlorate can be produced when chlorine-based disinfectants are used in water treatment and food processing.

Exposure to high levels of chlorate can cause health problems including thyroid problems, especially among children and infants.

NHS and private nutritionist Caron Grazette told the BBC on Monday: “We need to question whether or not we want to digest chemicals in soft drinks which are used in the production of fireworks and disinfectants, however small the quantity”.

Chlorate’s effects on humans when taken in excess include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and limiting the blood’s ability to absorb oxygen, added Ms Grazette, citing recent research into the chemical.

But the company said the risk to consumers was small.

“Independent expert analysis concluded that any associated risk of feeling temporarily unwell from consuming these products is very low,” Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said.

“The quality and safety of our products is our top priority and we’re sorry that on this occasion, a small number of our products have not met our high standards, and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused,” it said, in a statement.