Norway’s prime minister has shared his reaction to President Donald Trump’s shocking message claiming the U.S. was entitled to “complete and total control of Greenland” because the Nobel Peace Prize committee snubbed him last year.
Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre had reached out to Trump on Sunday with a joint message from himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in an effort to de-escalate the president’s earlier demands for Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
Trump replied, “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… but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
Asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett what went through his mind when he saw Trump’s message, Støre said he had tried—and failed—to impress upon Trump that his government has no role in choosing the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
“I’ve told President Trump many times that the Nobel committee is an independent committee,” he said. “It is staunchly secretive about the way it works. I am informed about the Nobel Prize alongside the rest of the world at 11 o’clock on that day in October.”
He also pointed out that last year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, was nominated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio when Rubio was still a Florida senator.
After the U.S. overthrew and abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Machado gave Trump her Peace Prize medal in hopes of being included in American plans for a post-Maduro Venezuela. So far, though, the Trump administration has continued to back Maduro’s deputies.
“You know, I see bigger problems in the world than world leaders wanting to get the Peace Prize,” Støre said.
Trump, however, has remained fixated on the prize and has refused to accept Støre’s explanation for how the selection process works.
“Don‘t let anyone tell you that Norway doesn’t control the shots, OK?” he told reporters Tuesday. “It’s in Norway. I lost a lot of respect for Norway. And I believe very strongly that Norway controls the Nobel Prize.”
Burnett then asked Støre point-blank, “How do you have a relationship with—deal pragmatically and diplomatically—with a person who talks like that?”
“We may be a small country, but we are a proud country and we stand for our values. We stand for our procedures. We stand for our institutions,” he replied. “I have respect for world leaders. They are different. They have different temperaments, different priorities, different sensitivities.
“If you are prime minister, you have to be diplomatic in the sense that you talk straight, but you’re able to deal with people, and the United States is very important ally for Norway, strong cultural, political ties. And that’s my point of departure for finding good solutions.”
