Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide responded after President Donald Trump slammed Norway as a "sh*thouse country" for once again passing him over for the Nobel Peace Prize.
This year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navanetham Pillay, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights who holds the distinction of being the first non-white female judge of the High Court of South Africa. Pillay received the honor "for her efforts to promote peace and international law."
Trump, who once again falsely claimed to have ended several wars, criticized Norway during a midterm election rally in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday, complaining that the prize went to "a woman that nobody ever heard of":
“We work with Denmark. Good country, good, nice country. Anybody that would like to come into our country from Denmark, I’m all for it. But I must tell you, from Somalia, I’ve had it with them. I much prefer Denmark. They’ll say, ‘Isn’t that a terrible thing?’”
“No, it’s—we got to be honest with each other, don’t we? Denmark, we’ll take them. Sweden. Norway, I don’t think so, because I didn’t get the Nobel Prize, even though I ended it. So, I don’t want anybody from Norway. I don’t want anything to do with Norway.”
“And it was announced and it was gotten by a woman that nobody ever heard of. I said, ‘What about me? Do they do two of them?’ Think of it, I settled [wars]. So I’m not in love with Norway."
"Frankly, Norway sucks. Norway has become a sh*thouse country, actually.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
The following day, Eide responded to Trump's remarks while sitting down for an interview with Norway's public radio broadcaster NRK:
“He knows very well that the Nobel Committee is independent. We have reminded him of that, in case anyone is wondering, and that is still the case.”
Indeed, the Norwegian government is for the most part not involved in selecting Nobel honorees.
The Nobel Foundation is a private organization made up of a board, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly, the Swedish Academy and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the trustees of the prize-awarding institutions, and auditors.
Although the committee’s members are appointed by politicians, they operate independently, and the Norwegian government does not select the winner, learning the decision at the same time as the public.
Trump is facing heavy criticism for his remarks.
Eide's response to Trump unfortunately reminds us that earlier this year Trump was criticized for sending a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that blames his aggressive desire to control Greenland on being snubbed for last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Last year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."
Trump was barely eligible for the prize to begin with. Nominations for last year's award closed on January 31, 2025, just days after Trump began his second term in office.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to threaten to seize control of Greenland from Denmark, insisting the U.S. needs the island territory for purposes of "national security." And though Norway has nothing to do with Greenland whatsoever, he told Støre he no longer feels "an obligation to think purely of Peace" because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Insisting that "I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States," Trump added that "The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland."
