EditTrump discussed Nobel Peace Prize in call with Stoltenberg, report says
The U.S. President reportedly said that his efforts for global peace warranted the honour and that he would "very much like to have it"
Donald Trump’s pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize is widely publicsed, but lacked confirmation, until revelations that last month the US president unexpectedly phoned Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg to discuss trade tariffs – and shared his belief that he deserves the world’s most prestigious peace award.
According to Norwegian daily “Dagens Næringsliv”, citing its own sources, the call came from the Oval Office in late July and was unscheduled, occurring while Stoltenberg was walking in Oslo.
The conversation began with Washington’s planned tariffs on Norwegian goods but quickly veered towards the Nobel Peace Prize, with Trump reportedly stating that his efforts for global peace warranted the honour and that he would “very much like to have it”.
The newspaper notes this was not the first time Trump has mentioned the prize in conversations with Stoltenberg, although there is no indication he tied it directly to any trade concessions, EUalive’s partner European Pravda writes.
Stoltenberg confirmed that he received the call from Trump and several of the president’s aides, but did not reveal details from the conversation.
“It is true that President Trump called me a few days before his conversation with Prime Minister Støre. Several of the president’s staff members also participated in the conversation, including Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer”, Stoltenberg, told “Politico”. “We discussed tariffs, economic cooperation, and it served as preparation for his call with Prime Minister Støre. I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation”, he added.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, whose five members are appointed by the country’s parliament in line with the will of 19th-century Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. Winners are announced each October in Oslo.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been nominated by several countries – including Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia – for brokering peace agreements or ceasefires. The nominations have cited his role in mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan, cooling tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, and other diplomatic interventions.
A crucial moment for Trump’s self-proclaimed peacemaking record is set for today, when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Trump has said he believes Putin will arrive “with the intention of making a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, but he has also given the encounter “a 25% chance of failure”.
The White House has made no secret of Trump’s desire for the award. “It’s long past time for President Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize”, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on 31 July – a comment met with scepticism and derision from political opponents. Leavitt listed a string of mediation efforts since January, from Southeast Asia to Africa, even citing his order for strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as a contribution to peace. She did not mention Ukraine, which Trump has repeatedly promised to resolve “on day one” of his term, nor the ongoing Gaza conflict, where Washington continues arms deliveries to Israel.
Some leaders have used Nobel references as a diplomatic courtesy towards the US president. Pakistan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have formally submitted nominations. In early July, during a White House meeting with the presidents of Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau and Gabon, a reporter asked whether Trump deserved the honour. Smiling at their replies, Trump quipped: “We could do this all day.”
Thousands of people worldwide are eligible to nominate candidates, including lawmakers, ministers, certain academics, former laureates and committee members. The deadline for submissions is 31 January, with the winner announced on 10 October.
One such nomination came from Anat Alon-Beck, an Israeli-American law professor, who told AFP she acted because of Trump’s “exceptional leadership” and “strategic genius” in promoting peace and securing hostage releases in Gaza.
But others reject the idea outright. “Nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize is like entering a hyena into a dog show,” wrote American history and politics scholar Emma Shortis in “The Conversation”. “Of course he doesn’t deserve it.”
Trump has long bristled at the notion that the award would elude him. “I deserve it, but they’ll never give it to me”, he said in February during a meeting with Netanyahu. In June, he posted on Truth Social: “I will never get the Nobel Peace Prize, no matter what I do, even with Russia and Ukraine, or Israel and Iran… But the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!”
For Gareth Martin, professor of international relations at American University, Trump’s fixation stems from a deep-seated need for recognition – and from his rivalry with Barack Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 just nine months into his first term. “If my name were Obama, they would have given it to me in ten seconds”, Trump remarked in October 2024, in the heat of his election campaign.
Only three other US presidents have won the prize – Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter, along with Henry Kissinger in 1973 for his role in ending the Vietnam War, a decision that stirred fierce criticism.
The full list of 2025 nominees remains secret unless disclosed by the proposer. This year, the total stands at 338. Betting markets currently place Trump second in the odds – behind Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Caption: US President Donald Trump looks on during an event marking the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, DC, USA, 14 August 2025. President Trump also delivered remarks on the federal crime crackdown in DC, and his trip to Anchorage to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. EPA/WILL OLIVER / POOL
Updated: August 15, 2025 - 09:54
