President Donald Trump lashed out at Norway during a campaign rally in Michigan on Sunday, renewing his complaints about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and declaring that the Scandinavian country “sucks.” Trump, who has repeatedly argued that his record of international diplomacy merits the prestigious award, brought up the Nobel while touting what he described as his success in resolving wars. After the prize was announced, however, the president said that “it was gotten by a woman that nobody ever heard of.” Trump was referring to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, who won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as her efforts to promote peace and international law. Norway has become a s***house country, actually.” He also said: “I don't want anybody from Norway.
I don't want anything to do with Norway.” Newsweek reached out to the White House, the Norwegian Embassy in Washington and the Norwegian Nobel Committee for comment on Sunday. Trump has spent years publicly discussing his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, frequently contrasting his diplomatic record with that of former President Barack Obama, who received the award in 2009. At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025, Trump said he had “ended seven un-endable wars” during the opening months of his second term.
By then, Trump had already complained that the Nobel Committee was unlikely to recognize him regardless of his record. In February 2025, he said: “They will never give it to me. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.” In June of that year, Trump said he “should have gotten it four or five times,” pointing to his administration's diplomatic efforts involving conflicts including Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Serbia and Kosovo, India and Pakistan, as well as the Abraham Accords.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, an independent five-member body whose members are appointed by Norway's parliament. The Norwegian government does not select the winner. That distinction has previously become an issue between Trump and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Trump's frustration with the Nobel Prize became entangled with his foreign policy toward Norway and other European countries earlier this year. In January, Trump told Støre that he “no longer feels an obligation to think purely of Peace” after failing to win the 2025 prize. The message came as Trump was escalating his push to acquire Greenland and threatening tariffs against a group of U.S. allies, including Norway, over opposition to his effort.
Støre responded publicly by stressing that his government does not choose Nobel laureates. Trump's latest criticism of Norway comes just over two weeks after Pillay was announced as the 2026 winner. Speaking at a rally in Syracuse, New York, on October 9, Trump said: “Today they gave out the Nobel Peace Prize to a person I never heard of.
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