Prize to those with greatest benefit to humans: Nobel Foundation dismisses Machado-Trump Nobel saga

New Delhi: Recently, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize 2025 medal to United States President Donald Trump.

Now, the Nobel Foundation has spoken out against it, clarifying that prizes cannot "symbolically” give the prize to someone else. It said in a statement on Sunday, "A prize can not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed." It also said that a core mission of the Nobel Foundation is to "safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration".

The statement reads, "The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,’ and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize."

On December 15, Machado met Trump at the White House and presented him with her medal. Machado said that the gesture was made as a "recognition for his unique commitment to (Venezuela's) freedom". Trump wrote about it in a post on Truth Social, saying he had "accepted” the prize.

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In his bid to acquire Greenland, President Trump has imposed tariffs on eight countries. He has imposed a 10 per cent tariff on imports from several European countries, accusing them of opposing America's plan to acquire Greenland.

In a post on Truth Social, he said the tariffs would apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland from February 1, 2026 and it would be raised to 25 per cent from June 1, 2026, if a deal is not reached for what he described as the "complete and total purchase of Greenland" by the US. Notably, Trump has recently upped the ante of his Greenland desire after the US Army captured and extradited Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from the country.