US President Donald Trump has linked his disappointment over missing out on the Nobel Peace Prize to his opposition to welcoming Norwegian immigrants, making the remarks during a rally in Michigan.
Trump reportedly made the comments while addressing supporters on Monday, taking aim at Norway over the decision not to award him the prestigious peace prize.
“Frankly, Norway sucks. Norway has become a shithouse country, actually,” he said.
He added, “I will welcome immigrants from Denmark but not from Norway because I didn’t get the Nobel Prize, so I don’t want anybody from Norway.”
However, there was no indication that the US administration had introduced any new immigration restrictions targeting citizens of Norway or Denmark following the president’s remarks.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that his diplomatic efforts and role in resolving international conflicts deserve recognition. He has also claimed that he ended eight wars and previously described the failure to award him the prize as a major injustice.
During the rally, he recalled discussing the possibility of winning the award with his wife, Melania Trump, before the winner was announced.
Trump reportedly said he had told her that “it’ll be a great honour to get the Nobel Peace Prize”.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this year to Navi Pillay, a South African former United Nations human rights chief, in recognition of her work to advance accountability for serious international crimes.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said Pillay had been “instrumental in ensuring war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted”.
Trump criticised the decision, describing Pillay as “a woman that nobody ever heard of”. He also questioned why he had not been selected, asking, “What about me? Do they do two of them?”
His latest comments follow earlier criticism of the Nobel Peace Prize selection process. Trump previously described the decision not to honour him as “disgraceful and embarrassing” and an “indelible stain” on Norway.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide responded to the controversy by stressing that the Nobel Committee operates independently of the Norwegian government.
“He knows very well that the Nobel committee is independent. We have reminded them of that, if anyone is wondering, and that is still the case,” Eide told Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, on Monday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre had also explained to Trump the previous year that the award was decided by an independent committee rather than the government of Norway.
After missing out on the prize, Trump said the Nobel Peace Prize had been “forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilisation.”
Pillay, the first non-white woman to serve as a judge of South Africa’s High Court, responded humorously to the attention surrounding Trump’s desire for the award. After learning of her selection, she entered a room at the Nuremberg court to applause and joked, “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
The controversy also recalls last year’s award to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who later presented her medal to Trump during a meeting at the White House as a gesture recognising his support for freedom in Venezuela.
The Nobel Committee subsequently clarified that an announced Nobel Prize cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to another person.
Despite Trump’s criticism, the committee’s independence means that the decision rests with its members, not the Norwegian government. His remarks about Norwegian immigrants have not, by themselves, established any change in US immigration policy.
