US Institute of Peace Renamed After Trump Ahead of DRC-Rwanda Accord
U.S. honors president's diplomacy with renamed landmark amid disputed global triumphs.
The United States Institute of Peace, a congressionally funded independent body headquartered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., has been formally renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. New lettering bearing the president’s full name was installed on the building’s façade this week, an action confirmed by the White House on December 3, 2025. The timing is deliberate: the renamed facility will host one of the administration’s most prominent diplomatic events in less than 24 hours.
On Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump will welcome Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi to sign a comprehensive U.S.-mediated peace accord designed to halt the devastating war in eastern Congo. The agreement follows months of intense American shuttle diplomacy and builds on preliminary pacts reached in Washington and Doha earlier this year. It addresses the M23 rebel offensive that seized Goma and Bukavu, imposes a monitored ceasefire, and opens Congolese mineral resources to American investment under a framework guaranteed by Kenyan President William Ruto.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended the renaming with characteristic flourish, declaring the building “beautifully and aptly named” after a leader who, in her words, “ended eight wars in less than a year — a record unmatched in modern history.” That claim has drawn immediate pushback from foreign-policy scholars and independent monitors, who note that several of the cited conflicts — including Israel-Hamas, Serbia-Kosovo tensions, and the India-Pakistan ceasefire — remain fragile at best, with violence recurring or core issues unresolved.
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The rebranding reopens a bitter chapter from earlier 2025, when the Department of Government Efficiency attempted to abolish the institute entirely, firing its leadership and installing loyalists. A federal judge swiftly ruled the takeover illegal, labeling it a “gross usurpation of power” and ordering reinstatement of the original staff. An appeals court subsequently granted the executive branch supervisory authority, effectively placing the organization in a state of suspended animation until this week’s unilateral renaming.
As photographers captured the new gold-lettered signage under floodlights Wednesday evening, the institute itself — still operating with a skeleton crew and no permanent president — declined to comment on the change. Preparations for Thursday’s ceremony continue unabated, with the Trump administration presenting the event as the crowning validation of both the renamed building and the president who now lends it his name.
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