By Ayomide Otitoju
US President Donald Trump has criticised the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African human rights lawyer Navi Pillay, describing the choice as “disgraceful” and claiming the honour should have gone to him.
Pillay was announced as the laureate on Friday in recognition of her work against war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Reacting to the announcement at a rally in Syracuse, New York, Trump said he had never heard of Pillay but questioned why the award was not given to him.
“I never heard of this particular person, but congratulations anyway,” he said.
“The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t.”
Trump also described the committee’s decision as “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision”, saying it left “an indelible stain on the country of Norway”.
“The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilisation,” he added.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Before the announcement, experts in Oslo had questioned his prospects, citing his administration’s approach to Iran, territorial ambitions involving Greenland, immigration policies and criticism of multilateral institutions and the media.
The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a cash award of approximately $1.2 million.
Pillay, meanwhile, joked about sharing the honour with Trump after the announcement.
“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” she told a crowd applauding her achievement.
Her remark appeared to allude to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who reportedly gave Trump her Nobel gold medal after winning the prize in 2025.
