SHAKY TRACK RECORD
While he deserves some credit for his efforts and at least some temporary successes, Trump does not have a spotless track record as a peacemaker. His eight months in office since re-entering the White House in January are hardly an advertisement for the criteria set out by Alfred Nobel.
Trump has threatened to annex Greenland and incorporate Canada as the 51st state of the US, joined Israel in bombing Iran during the so-called 12-day war, and carried out a deadly campaign of airstrikes against alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers.
This mixture of peacemaking and warmongering sets Trump apart from the fourth US president to win the prize, Barack Obama, who won in 2009 “for efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. This too was a controversial choice at the time as it was mostly aspirational, given Obama’s lack of track record as president in the early months of his administration.
Perhaps the best outcome of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize saga, and the fact Trump did not win, might be that the US president now doubles down on his peacemaking efforts. He has gone on the record as having ended seven wars, and now has another potential success with the Gaza ceasefire deal.
If he wants to remain in contention for the 2026 award, Trump can’t afford for his grandiose claims to be proved wrong. If he succeeds in preventing any of these conflicts from flaring up again, a service to peace will have been done – and it shouldn’t matter that it was done by Trump, or what his ultimate motivation was.
Stefan Wolff is Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.
