Sugars and phytohormones regulate shoot branching through the controlled release of axillary buds from dormancy. Strigolactones inhibit bud release by promoting targeted degradation of SMXLs6/7/8, which promote bud outgrowth. SL binds to the receptor D14, which allows this protein to recruit SMXLs6/7/8 and MAX2, an F-box which mediates ubiquitination of the D14 and SMXL proteins. Sugars promote bud outgrowth, partially by inhibiting the strigolactone perception pathway. This occurs in part through suppression of MAX2 expression. Evidence suggests that sugars inhibit MAX2 to antagonise strigolactone signalling, however the mechanisms underpinning this interaction remain unknown. Recent studies have shown in-vitro that citrate can interrupt a conformational change in the MAX2 protein which is necessary for its function. Since citrate is produced downstream of sugars, we investigated whether sugars affect the SL signalling pathway partially through citrate. We demonstrate that a citrate synthase inhibitor suramin reduces the ability for sucrose to alleviate GR24-induced bud outgrowth suppression in pea. Additionally, an Arabidopsis line with a MAX2 sequence mutation that mimics the effect of citrate has a dampened branching response to sugar depletion. Altogether, these results suggest that citrate may play an important role in mediating the interactions between sugar availability and strigolactones.