Trump turns Nobel Peace Prize grudge into attack on Norway, targets its immigrants

President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running feud with Norway, saying Norwegian immigrants are not welcome in the United States because the Nobel Committee did not award him the Peace Prize.

He made the remarks at a campaign rally, where he also used a crude insult to describe Norway. The outburst follows weeks of public grievance.

On October 9, Trump complained bitterly that he had been passed over, calling the decision disgraceful and embarrassing and saying it had left a stain on Norway, which hosts the committee.

The prize went to former International Criminal Court judge Navi Pillay, and Trump said on Truth Social that he should have received it, claiming that she hates Israel.

Trump’s frustration with Oslo is not new. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, he has made no secret of his desire to win the prize. He has been overlooked twice, with the 2025 award going to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

In January, a message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said he no longer felt obliged to “think purely of peace” because Norway had not given him the prize. It remains unclear why he directs these complaints at the Norwegian government, since the prize is awarded by the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee, not by Oslo’s political leadership.

The episode over the medal added to the tension: Machado presented Trump with her medal at the White House, although the Nobel Institute had stressed that a Peace Prize cannot be transferred or shared once awarded.

For Norway, the concern has been how far Washington’s displeasure might go. Even before the 2025 announcement, Norwegian media were asking whether the United States would punish the country if Trump did not win.

The White House has previously insisted that his efforts to end conflicts are not about awards, a position that sits awkwardly beside his repeated public complaints.

Whether the comments about Norwegian immigrants will lead to any actual policy is unclear, and nothing in the reports I found suggests a formal measure has been announced.

For now, the remarks stand as a rhetorical attack on a close NATO ally, and a reminder that the independence of a prize committee is a difficult concept for a president who sees the award as a personal verdict.