Trump’s Nobel Grudge and the India Tariff Shock: Inside the Letter

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A bitter Nobel Peace Prize snub, India-Pakistan claims, and Trump’s ego-driven geopolitics explain why India now faces 50 percent US tariffs.

By TRH World Desk

New Delhi, January 20, 2026 — US President Donald Trump’s letter to Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is under scrutiny for answers to geopolitical puzzles. The letter has given hints to US-based commentators to intriguing questions such as why Trump singled out India for 50 percent tariffs.

Trump in his letter writes: “Dear Jonas, 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…” Trump’s usages of capitalized letters in his sentences are seen as a reflection of his bloated self-image. Some commentators have argued that Trump’s berating of Norway’s Prime Minister after he failed to bag the Nobel Peace prize reveals his pathological jilted behaviour.

He claims to have stopped eight “wars.” That includes his rhetoric of stopping “India-Pakistan War.” After the announcement of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the relations of Washinton with New Delhi went into a downward spiral. Trump made claims of stopping “India-Pakistan War” on numerous occasions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Canada for a meeting on the sidelines of G7 had spoken to Trump where he had rebutted claims of the US President on India-Pakistan conflicts.

Anne Applebaum in an opinion piece in The Atlantic wrote: “He (Trump) is at risk of alienating friends in not only Europe but also India, whose leader he also snubbed for failing to nominate him for a Nobel Prize, as well as South Korea, Japan, Australia.” She suggested that Trump is nursing grievance with Modi for the Prime Minister not nominating him for Nobel Peace Prize.

Incidentally, Pakistan nominated Trump for the coveted prize twice. India, in contrast, didn’t give credit to Trump for the pause on India-Pakistan conflicts. India officially has maintained that the ceasefire was agreed bilaterally between the two militaries.

“Years of careful diplomacy, billions of dollars in trade, are now at risk because senators and representatives who know better have refused to use the powers they have to block him. Now is the time,” Applebaum wrote, arguing that the Republicans should stop the US President from forcing his personal whims on geopolitics.