Japanese PM to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be nominating U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to reports.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the announcement during Trump’s visit to Tokyo on Tuesday, local time, as part of his Asia trip, according to a travel pool report shared by AFP correspondent Aurélia End.

It was the first meeting between the two leaders since Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister earlier this month.

In a phone call on Saturday, Takaichi “praised” Trump’s leadership in the Middle East, and Japanese officials cited his role in brokering a peace declaration between Cambodia and Thailand as a “significant contribution to peace,” according to Nippon TV.

Takaichi’s nomination adds to a growing list of international figures who have endorsed Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, and several U.S. lawmakers.

The 2025 award was presented earlier this month to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for her democracy advocacy, and many of the recent nominations for Trump will be considered in the 2026 cycle, as submissions after the deadline are automatically applied to the following year.

The visit to Tokyo is part of a five-day Asia tour that began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Trump attended the ASEAN summit. In South Korea, Trump is scheduled to attend the APEC Summit in Gyeongju, meet with President Lee Jae-myung, and hold a high-profile meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.