Opposition leader
María Corina Machado of has been awarded the 2025
Nobel Peace Prize, beating a crowded field of nominees that included US President Donald Trump, whose campaign for the honour had drawn international attention. The Nobel Committee said it was honouring Machado “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.”
Also read: Meet Nobel Peace Prize winner - Maria Corina MachadoThe decision dealt a personal blow to Trump, who had publicly lobbied for the award, calling himself the “president of peace” and repeatedly claiming to have “ended six or seven wars.” But it is also a diplomatic setback for Pakistan, one of the countries that had formally nominated Trump for the prize, portraying him as a “champion of peace.”
Pakistan’s bet on Trump
Pakistan had gone all in on Trump this year. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Field Marshall Asim Munir made a visit to the White House in August, where they met Trump in a rare Oval Office engagement. Islamabad hailed the meeting as a breakthrough moment in US-Pakistan ties, saying the two sides had discussed cooperation on counter-terrorism, regional security, and new economic ventures. This was Munir’s third trip to the oval office just this year alone.
Also read: Donald Trump misses out on Nobel Peace PrizeSharif, speaking later at the United Nations, described Trump as “a champion of peace” and said nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize was “the least we could do.” Pakistan’s nomination cited Trump’s claimed role in “de-escalating” tensions between India and Pakistan, a claim New Delhi has consistently rejected.
In recent months, the Trump administration has pushed to deepen economic ties with Islamabad even as trade talks with India remain stalled. The US government announced its intent to collaborate with Pakistan on critical minerals and hydrocarbons, while Trump himself unveiled a plan to help Pakistan develop its “massive oil reserves.”
On his Truth Social platform, Trump said, “We have finalised a deal with Pakistan, where both countries will collaborate on developing Pakistan’s extensive oil reserves… Perhaps, in the future, they might sell oil to India!”
The boast turned out to be wildly optimistic. According to energy data, Pakistan has just 0.02% of the world’s crude oil reserves, less than a tenth of India’s production. Yet Islamabad’s enthusiasm for Trump reflected both economic desperation and the hope of finding a patron in Washington amid regional isolation.
Why the defeat hurts Pakistan
For Islamabad, Trump’s loss is more than symbolic. Pakistan’s government had staked diplomatic capital on its public embrace of the US president, even as India-Pakistan tensions simmered. By nominating Trump and describing him as a “friend of peace,” Sharif’s administration had hoped to reset relations with Washington, a move seen as a pivot away from Beijing.
Instead, Pakistan now faces embarrassment on two fronts: Trump’s failure to win the Nobel Prize and the exposure of Islamabad’s overreach. The White House never released an official readout of the Trump–Sharif–Munir meeting, and Washington’s silence contrasted sharply with Islamabad’s exuberant press releases and photos of a smiling Trump flashing his signature thumbs-up.
The loss also weakens Pakistan’s argument that Trump’s mediation ended the brief but intense India–Pakistan conflict earlier this year, a claim denied by India’s military, which maintains that the ceasefire was negotiated directly between the two countries’ commanders.
For now, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to a woman fighting for democracy in Venezuela. But for Donald Trump and his unlikely backers in Islamabad the snub serves as a reminder that peace cannot be won through press releases or self-congratulation. It must be earned.
How Trump’s self-promotion cost him
For Trump, the Nobel campaign was intensely personal. Over the past year, he has repeatedly told reporters that he “should have gotten [the prize] four or five times” and that “everyone says” he deserves it. He even reminded UN delegates in September that his “peace record” was unmatched, claiming to have ended wars between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and “even Thailand and Cambodia.”
But this relentless self-promotion likely backfired. Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee have long avoided appearing to reward leaders who lobby openly for recognition. “We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel,” Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said, adding that lobbying or political pressure had “no bearing” on their choice.
Moreover, Trump’s record remains divisive. While he claims credit for brokering ceasefires, critics point out that many conflicts he boasts of ending were never formally resolved, and others, such as the war in Ukraine, continue to rage. His domestic policies including mass deportations, expanded war powers, and withdrawal from global climate pacts have also undercut his image as a peacemaker.
As one expert told the Associated Press, the Nobel Committee prefers to honour the “durability of peace and the quiet work of institutions”, not the “rhetoric of power.”