How did White House respond to Trump losing out on Nobel Peace Prize?

Despite his campaigning, Donald Trump missed out on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, with the award instead going to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Machado was chosen “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

The news has since sparked reaction from both Trump and the White House. Here's everything you need to know.

Why was Trump nominated?

President Donald Trump returns to the White House following a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump traveled to Walter Reed to visit with troops and receive a medical check up.Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Trump has said he's deserving of the prize as he's claimed to have "ended seven wars". The White House says he was citing conflicts from both his first and second terms, as per The Independent.

The US president was nominated by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, the governments of Pakistan and Cambodia, US Republican Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter, and a senior Ukrainian politician (the latter of whom later withdrew their nomination, accusing Trump of appeasing Vladimir Putin).

Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Pakistan and India, DRC and Rwanda, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, were the seven wars listed last month by the U.S. State Department that they say the “President of Peace” had ended.

However, this claim has been handled with scepticism among his critics, as some conflicts were just tensions, and his contributions towards these have been debated.

Meanwhile, Trump has gone on to claim he's helping to end more wars, with the recent Gaza peace deal as number "eight".

"Nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months. And I've stopped eight wars. That's never happened before. But they'll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine," Trump said on Thursday, during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Finland.

White House hits back over Trump Nobel Peace Prize snub

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, White House spokesperson Steven Cheung posted a statement on Trump missing out on winning the coveted award, accusing the committee of placing "politics over peace" with their choice.

"President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will," Cheung wrote. "The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."

Trump responds to missing out on award

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Of course, Trump himself has since responded to losing out on the Nobel Peace Prize and says Machado called and told him she's accepting the prize in his honour and that he deserved the award.

“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it. A very nice thing to do,” Trump said.

“I didn't say ‘then give it to me,’ though, I think she might have,” he added. “She was very nice. And I've been, you know, I've been helping her along the way. She — they need a lot of help in Venezuela, it's a basic disaster.”

Which US presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, US President Barack Obama smiles on the podium with his diploma and gold medal during the Nobel ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo on December 10, 2009. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images

Historically, three sitting US presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize, these are: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Barack Obama in 2009.

Meanwhile, two decades after leaving office, Jimmy Carter won the prize in 2002.

Trump has previously mentioned his predecessor, Obama, winning the prize - but didn't exactly have nice things to say...

"They gave it to Obama. He didn't even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize," he said in 2019. "With me, I probably will never get it.

“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump said on Thursday.

Maybe next year?

He may have missed out this year, but some of Trump's nominations came after the January 31 deadline for the 2025 award, when he would've been just over a week into his second term.

On the official Nobel Prize website, it reads, "nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year’s discussions", and so this means Trump's nominations that missed the deadline this year may be discussed for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

In addition, if the Gaza peace plan is successful, then this could also bolster Trump's chances of winning next year.

Elsewhere from Indy100, Gaza peace deal: What it means and how people are reacting, and Trump branded ‘sad and needy’ after slamming Obama’s peace prize win.

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