Norway has answered Donald Trump’s vulgar attack on the country with a tongue-in-cheek showcase of its most scenic ‘s*** houses’.
The US President intensified his criticism of Norway on Sunday, branding it a ‘s***house country’ after he failed to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Blaming immigration for recent unrest in France, Trump said he would welcome migrants from some countries—but not Norway, ‘because I didn’t get the Nobel Prize… So I don’t want anybody from Norway.’
Trump made the remarks at a political rally in Michigan ahead of next week’s midterm elections, telling the crowd that Norwegian immigrants were not welcome in the United States.
He also declared that ‘Norway sucks’, apparently linking the outburst to the Nobel committee’s decision not to award him the Peace Prize. The committee is based in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
‘I’m not in love with Norway. Frankly, Norway sucks. Norway has become a s*** house country, actually,’ Trump said, repeating language he has previously used to describe Haiti, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Norway’s tourism board responded this week by highlighting some of the country’s most striking public toilets on its website.
‘Are these the world’s best s*** houses?’ Visit Norway asked, adding: ‘Norway makes s*** houses great again!’
The collection featured a series of eye-catching designer loos, many offering spectacular views of fjords, rivers, waterfalls and some of Norway’s most dramatic scenery
Visit Norway said leading architects had been commissioned to turn roadside toilets along 18 scenic routes into attractions in their own right
Alongside photographs of the award-winning facilities, the tourism board wrote: ‘These toilets are worth a visit, both when you really have to go – and when you don’t.’
According to Visit Norway, leading architects have redesigned roadside toilets along 18 scenic routes, transforming them into destinations rather than simple stopping points.
The project produced a series of distinctive designer loos, several of them positioned beside breathtaking views of fjords, rivers, waterfalls and other spectacular Norwegian landscapes.
Among them are a wave-shaped toilet at a Helgeland rest stop, a solar-powered, ‘Instagram worthy’ loo at the Utsikten viewpoint and Senja Island’s well-known triangular ‘golden toilet’.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide addressed Trump’s comments earlier this week, telling national broadcaster NRK: ‘He knows very well that the Nobel Committee is independent. We have reminded them of that, if anyone is wondering, and that is still the case.’
Barth Eide sought to brush off the US President’s foul-mouthed tirade as campaign rhetoric.
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He said Norway placed ‘great importance’ on its close relationship with America, while adding pointedly that Trump ‘is currently in the midst of an election campaign that perhaps isn’t going very well for his party, and that leads him to say a lot of things’.
Earlier this month, Trump described the decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize as an ‘indelible stain’ on Norway.
Washington insiders say Trump is ‘obsessed’ with securing the Peace Prize. He has reportedly been particularly frustrated that Barack Obama won it during the first year of his presidency for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and support a world free of nuclear weapons.
Aides in the Trump administration say senior State Department officials remain conscious of the issue. One said: ‘Trump sees this prize as the ultimate capstone to how history will remember him.’
Only two other sitting US presidents besides Obama, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, have won the award.
Norway, a country of 5.6 million people, hasn’t exactly taken to the longboats over the insults.
Norway’s tourism board this week showcased on their website some of the country’s most beautiful lavatories
Alongside pictures of award-winning toilets, the board adding: ‘These toilets are worth a visit, both when you really have to go – and when you don’t’
Boosted considerably by oil and natural gas revenue, Norway is among the highest-income countries as measured by GDP per capita. Its sovereign wealth fund posted record profit of 1.75 trillion Norwegian crowns ($184.3billion) for the first half of 2026.
The metrics that show Norway significantly outperforming the US include life expectancy (more than four years), infant mortality, adult obesity (the US has more than twice the rate), GDP per capita ($106,000 to $94,000), corruption perceptions, press freedom and the World Happiness Rank, which has Norwegians in sixth place and Americans in 23rd.
Another statistic that rather undermines Trump’s threat over Norwegian migration is that the flow is far stronger in the other direction.
According to the Oslo government, more Americans emigrated to Norway in 2025 than Norwegians emigrated to the United States.
Last year, 1,529 American citizens moved to Norway, compared with 1,005 Norwegians who relocated to the United States.
‘Dear President Trump – a little perspective from Norway,’ posted Norwegian Magne Bjella on X. ‘Please don’t lose any sleep worrying about whether we are coming to America. I’m very happy here.’
Bjella then listed reasons including ‘healthcare that follows us through life’, ‘time to be parents’, ‘subsidized childcare’, ‘accessible higher education’ and ‘support when illness strikes’.