US President Donald Trump has criticised the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African judge and human rights advocate Navi Pillay, describing the selection as “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision”.
Pillay received the prestigious award on Friday in recognition of her work against war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Addressing a rally of supporters in Syracuse, New York, Trump said he had never heard of Pillay before her selection was announced.
“I never heard of this particular person, but congratulations anyway,” he said.
Trump also claimed that the United States deserved the award, saying: “The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t.”
He further criticised the decision, claiming that Pillay’s selection had left “an indelible stain on the country of Norway”.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has openly expressed his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, experts in Oslo had argued before Pillay’s announcement that Trump’s policies and actions, including his war against Iran, territorial ambitions involving Greenland, hard-line immigration policies and criticism of multilateralism and the media, undermined his prospects of receiving the award.
The Nobel Peace Prize includes a gold medal, a diploma and a monetary award of $1.2 million.
Trump also condemned the committee’s decision, saying: “The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilisation.”
Following the announcement, Pillay appeared to make a light-hearted reference to Trump while addressing a crowd that had applauded her achievement.
“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” she joked.
Her remark appeared to reference Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who presented her Nobel gold medal to Trump after receiving the award last year.
