Trump says he wants no one from Norway after Nobel Peace Prize snub

The Port Huron rally

On Sunday, 25 October 2026, President Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Port Huron, Michigan, a city in St. Clair County that reports describe as a Republican stronghold. According to Rzeczpospolita, it was the first visit by a sitting US president to the county, which lies on the Canadian border. The event came ahead of the midterm elections in November. During the speech Trump called Norway a country he did not like and used a vulgar term, one he had earlier applied to Haiti, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, according to the reports.

Immigration and the Nobel Peace Prize

Trump linked recent unrest in France to immigration and said he would welcome migrants from some countries, including Denmark, but not from Norway. He tied that refusal directly to the Nobel Peace Prize he did not receive. He said that two weeks before the announcement he had told his wife, Melania Trump, that he expected to win. After the award went to someone else, he said it had gone to a woman nobody had heard of, a reference to South African lawyer Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, named the 2026 laureate earlier in October. Trump has repeatedly argued that he stopped eight wars, which he cited as his case for the prize, and he said two more were still ongoing, referring to Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Earlier in October he had described the snub as an indelible stain on Norway.

Norway's response

The Norwegian government has stressed that it has no role in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize, and that the Norwegian Nobel Committee is independent. The Norwegian foreign ministry and a committee spokesperson had not yet responded to Reuters requests for comment, which were sent outside working hours. The reports indicate no sign that the Trump administration plans a new official policy on Norwegian immigrants. Norway also ranks among the countries with the highest income per head, according to International Monetary Fund data cited in the coverage. Its sovereign wealth fund posted a record profit of 1.75 trillion Norwegian kroner (184.3 billion dollars) in the first half of 2026.

Attacks on Democrats in Michigan

Much of the speech targeted Abdul El-Sayed, the 41-year-old Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Michigan who could become the first Muslim senator. Trump called him a jihadist and accused him of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the candidate denies. Trump also criticised El-Sayed's proposed universal health care system and accused him of wanting to destroy the American heritage. Barack Obama had campaigned for El-Sayed at a Detroit rally on Saturday, and Trump said his own Sunday crowd was far bigger. Trump also said Greenland belongs to the United States and that the war with Iran would end soon, and he urged supporters to watch vote counting closely. He invited rapper Nicki Minaj onto the stage during the event.