US President Donald Trump on Friday expressed his displeasure at not receiving the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, attacking Norway and those responsible for selecting the winner after the prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former judge at the International Court of Justice.
Trump attacks Nobel Prize decision
Speaking at a rally in Syracuse, New York, Trump said he had “never heard of” Pillay, adding: “The United States, represented by me, I am your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but that did not happen.” The US president described the decision as “an indelible disgrace on Norway and those who made this disgraceful and embarrassing decision”.
He added that the Nobel Peace Prize had “lost its credibility forever at the hands of a handful of anti-democratic people with extreme ideologies who are in fact enemies of civilisation”. Trump said that the United States not being awarded the prize was further evidence, in his view, that Norway and others were taking advantage of his country, adding that “the decision not to give us the Nobel Peace Prize is disgraceful and shameful”.
Navi Pillay’s career and the bodies she headed
Pillay won the prize after previously serving as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and working as a judge at the International Court of Justice. She also chaired the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry, which concluded that Israel was responsible for genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The Nobel Peace Prize includes a gold medal, a diploma and a cash award of $1.2 million. Pillay joked with the audience about the possibility of sharing the prize with Trump, telling the crowd, which applauded her after her win was announced: “If you applaud a little more, I might share this prize with Trump”.
Her sarcastic remark appeared to refer to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who gave her Nobel gold medal to Trump after winning the prize the previous year. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly announced his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Before Pillay’s win was announced, experts in Oslo said his war against Iran, his expansionist ambitions in Greenland, his tough stance towards migrants and his attacks on the media had removed him from the list of candidates eligible for the prize.
