Trump Lashes Out At Norway Over Nobel Peace Prize In Latest Push To Annex Greenland

"I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace."

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Although the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize had fallen into tatters long before President Donald J. Trump’s recent quest to have it awarded to him, a bizarre letter he penned to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has taken the mockery of the prize to new heights. Trump declared he “no longer feels an obligation to think purely of peace” in the letter to Norway’s head of state, raising tensions even higher over the U.S.’ continued quest to annex Greenland after several NATO member states deployed troops to the Danish territory.

Trump reaffirmed his administration’s position that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary to secure the Western Hemisphere from the threat of Russian and Chinese infiltration. Trump’s claim that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China is contravened by the fact that the Danish territory is covered by NATO’s collective security pact. By virtue of being a territory of Denmark, one of NATO’s founding member states, Greenland is protected by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This means that any attack on Greenland by a nation such as Russia or China would constitute an attack against all member states, providing as much protection to Greenland as is provided to the U.S., Canada, or any European nation belonging to NATO.

The letter written by Trump to Støre was leaked after being forwarded to several European ambassadors in Washington, D.C., and reads as follows:

“Dear Jonas: Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents; it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT”

Although Trump alleges that the country of Norway decided not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian government plays no role in determining its recipient. The prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a five-member body elected by the Norwegian Parliament in accordance with the will of the late eponymous founder of the award, Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Peace Prize is the only award determined by the committee. The other five Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and economics are awarded by respective Swedish bodies, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Swedish Academy. Although the Norwegian Parliament does elect the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, it has no authority in determining who they vote to recognize as the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee voted to award the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado despite Trump and other world leaders, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lobbying to have him selected as its laureate. Machado, the longtime opponent of the Venezuelan governments led by presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, was awarded the prize on October 10th, 2025 for what the committee praised as her setting “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.”

Despite that acclaim, Machado is seen by much of the world as a puppet of the West being used to expand its control over South America. Just weeks after the U.S. deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by executing Operation Absolute Resolve in the early morning hours of January 3rd, Machado visited the White House to hand over the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. Machado’s decision to give Trump the prize came as the U.S. continues to determine its vision for the future of the governance of Venezuela in the wake of overthrowing Maduro. Despite being propped up to replace Maduro, the Trump administration has not endorsed Machado as his successor just yet, though her decision to give Trump the award appears designed to curry his favor by influencing that decision.

While Trump characterized Machado’s decision as a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect,” the gesture was a performative one, as the prize is non-transferable. In a statement released following Trump and Machado’s meeting, the Norwegian Nobel Committee stated, “The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organization has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself—the honor and recognition—remains inseparably linked to the person or organization designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.” Trump’s decision to accept the award is ironic, considering how he and his MAGA acolytes have mocked participation trophies as symbols of the declining American culture they stand against. By choosing to accept the Nobel Peace Prize from Machado, Trump has effectively received his very own participation trophy.

Despite now having the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize firmly in his grasp, the letter Trump wrote to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre shows that being passed over for its actual awarding continues to leave a sour taste in his mouth. The letter also conveys the vindictiveness Trump has over the snub, which ostensibly is influencing his foreign policymaking as he uses it to continue to justify the U.S.’ territorial claim to Greenland.

As the Trump administration continues to escalate the pressure it places on the rest of the world in its quest to annex Greenland, most recently by vowing to implement tariffs on nations that oppose the U.S. acquiring the territory, the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t the only thing this saga has brought the fallacy of to light. The conflict also reveals the fallacy of NATO, which has deployed troops to protect itself against what it deems as a threat against it from its leading member state. That internal strife makes NATO appear to be an antiquated and entangled web of alliances, reminiscent of the pre-World War I world order. The disorder caused by those alliances ultimately erupted into a global conflict following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. With NATO continuing to wage a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, the internal conflict it finds itself in over the U.S.’ claim to Greenland may be the catalyst leading to the facade of its alliance crumbling, which the aftermath of risks leading to that history repeating itself all over again.