Trump has more work to do to realize his Nobel quest

P

resident Trump has made no secret of his desire for a Nobel Peace Prize. He’s hinted at it, joked about it, and he hasn’t stopped shouting it from rooftops, sloped or otherwise. And truth be told, on some fronts, he’s got a case. In certain regions, his approach to diplomacy delivered results that eluded his predecessors. In others, the ambition was there, but the execution fell short. For now. And then there are the places that didn’t make it onto his radar at all. Where real lives were at stake and America’s influence wasn’t.

Here we attempt to sort it all out, with a region-by-region breakdown of where Trump actually moved the needle on global peace and where he didn’t.

Israel

Let’s begin with Israel, where Trump scored his clearest and most significant foreign policy victory. His approach was simple: Support America’s closest ally in the region with unapologetic strength. No “daylight,” no winks to Tehran, no pressure to “make concessions.” The result? The Abraham Accords (peace agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kosovo) were signed without once having to negotiate with Hamas or hand over land. This wasn’t just peace through strength. It was peace through confidence. The road to peace took a detour around Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. And it worked.

Ukraine

Contrast that with Ukraine, where Trump’s instincts were sharp but his policies scattered. He was the first US president to send lethal aid to Ukraine, but he also sent mixed signals. Praising Putin while pressuring NATO allies for more defense spending made sense in part, but his overall policy lacked coherence. When Russia finally invaded, Trump was out of office. But the deterrence he might have built never fully materialized.

Trump’s second-term approach to Ukraine is clear: less funding for Kyiv, more pressure on Europe, and repeated nudges toward a negotiated settlement. It appeals to his base, but doesn’t yet qualify as a path to peace.

If Trump wants to turn Ukraine into a legacy moment, he needs to broker an actual off-ramp; a ceasefire, a regional security agreement, something tangible. If he manages to end the war without giving Putin a free pass or betraying Kyiv, that’s a signature Trumpian achievement. But if the war drags on with less US engagement and no clear alternative, he risks owning the stalemate, not the solution.

Nigeria

One of the biggest missed opportunities is Nigeria, where thousands of Christians have been massacred by terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Fulani militias. Trump has often spoken about defending religious freedom, especially for Christians, but Nigeria remains a blind spot. There have been no targeted sanctions, no special envoy, no push for international protection. A small, focused intervention could have made a real difference. Instead, the crisis continues unchecked.

The Rest of the Mideast

Pushing Syria and Lebanon into the Abraham Accords now would likely be doomed to fail. Previous wins succeeded precisely because they were built on real economic ties, like UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, where business incentives created political will. But in Syria and Lebanon, commercial foundations don’t exist. Trump is skipping the crucial bottom-up step and leaping straight to government pressure. That leaves public opinion flat and ripe for backlash.

If he really wants the Nobel, he needs to change the playbook. Start by cultivating a real business ecosystem between Israel and its northern neighbors: energy and tech projects, rebuilding post-conflict infrastructure. Inject US-led investments, encourage private-sector partnerships, exactly the model that helped the Accords succeed elsewhere .

Once trade flows and jobs are on the table, trust will follow. Then Trump can take it public: a national referendum, encouraging Syrians and Lebanese to vote on joining the Accords themselves. That’s not just diplomacy, that’s durable, democratic normalization… and maybe the kind of peace win serious enough to grab a Nobel nod.

Sudan was one of the less-publicized diplomatic victories. Trump helped secure its agreement to normalize ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords. In return, Sudan was removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. It was a diplomatic win, until Sudan’s fragile transitional government collapsed in a military coup. If Trump wants to reclaim his peacemaker title here, he needs to reassert US leadership. Convene a mini-summit. Offer infrastructure aid in exchange for disarmament. Frame it as saving the first Accords state from collapse. But do something.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Trump ended the war, while Biden botched the exit. With regard to winning a peace prize over it, ending America’s longest war — like the Afghani people themselves — never stood a chance. Now Trump’s watching the Taliban govern poorly, hoping they fail on their own. But watching the Taliban flail isn’t a pathway to a peace prize.

China

China presented another moral test. Trump talks tough on China, on everything from trade, to Taiwan, and to human rights. He was the first US president to formally label China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide. But speeches don’t win peace prizes. Results do.

If Trump wants credit for confronting China’s abuses, he needs a global anti-genocide strategy: coordinated sanctions, multinational economic pressure, even a safe haven program for religious minorities. Right now, the Uighurs are still in camps, and Trump’s “decoupling” campaign is mostly economic, not humanitarian.

North Korea

And then there’s North Korea, perhaps Trump’s most theatrical foreign policy move. His first-term summits with Kim Jong-un made history. The optics were stunning. But the deliverables? Thin. No rollback of North Korea’s nuclear program. No inspections. Just a lot of mutual flattery and diplomatic stalling. Trump proved he could get to the table, but left with little more than a handshake and handful of love letters.

Peace Takes Work

So, where does that leave Trump’s peace record?

The president excels when there’s a clear deal to be made; when the players are strong, the incentives are economic, and the outcome can be formalized with a signature. That’s why the Abraham Accords worked. That’s why his pressure campaigns on NATO and China gained traction. But in regions with messy ethnic conflicts, weak institutions, or humanitarian complexity, his attention span fades and his policy tools keep coming up short.

If Trump wants a real peace legacy, he needs to think bigger, more strategically and with greater focus. Not just about headlines or summits, but about durable solutions in the places no one is watching. That means expanding diplomatic engagement in neglected crisis zones. Identifying persecuted or vulnerable populations. Deploying targeted pressure, economic tools, and moral leadership where they can actually save lives and stabilize regions.

Peace doesn’t always look like a treaty. Sometimes it looks like fewer funerals in a forsaken province. Sometimes it’s helping a community survive until the war is over.

If Trump really wants that Nobel, the path doesn’t run through flashy headlines or forced treaties. It runs through credible, scalable models of peace , especially in places no one expects. The original Abraham Accords worked because they were built on business, trust and timing. That formula should still work.

Now the question is: Will he trudge down that arduous path of overlooked progress, or sprint across the uncharted shortcut in the hopes that it might get him in the vicinity of the finish line?

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1070)