Trump Administration Sanctions International Criminal Court

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, hours after one of the tribunal’s former judges received the Nobel Peace Prize, Deutsche Welle reported.

The move follows months of increasingly open U.S. efforts to weaken the court, in what Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described as a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court.”

The United States and Israel have strongly opposed ICC arrest warrants issued against senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Washington has also objected since 2020, during the final part of Trump’s first term, to investigations into military operations in Afghanistan. Those inquiries have shifted priority away from alleged U.S. wrongdoing and toward the Taliban, although U.S. actions may still be included.

“President Trump will never allow the International Court to prosecute Americans,” Rubio said in a statement.

“That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court. We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate,” the secretary of state added.

The ICC condemned the measures, saying they sought to obstruct an independent international tribunal backed by more than half of the United Nations’ member states.

“The court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence, for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes,” ICC President Tomoko Akane said. Akane is already subject to U.S. sanctions.

Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal. It is the only permanent international court with theoretical jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Established in 2002, the ICC operates under the Rome Statute. A total of 125 countries have signed and ratified the treaty, becoming full members. Several major powers, including China, India, Russia, the United States and Israel, do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.

However, the ICC can consider cases brought by member states against individuals from countries that have not accepted its authority. This has led to high-profile arrest warrants against Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, and Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, following complaints brought by Ukrainians and Palestinians, respectively.

During Trump’s second term, the U.S. administration has intensified its criticism of the court, with Rubio frequently leading the campaign. In an opinion article published by The Wall Street Journal in mid-July, he argued that the United States had never accepted the authority of an international tribunal to supersede its own legal system.

“America never agreed to a world tribunal that can override our own courts and the Constitution,” Rubio wrote.

He warned that U.S. “soldiers, police officers, Border Patrol agents and elected leaders” could be “dragged before an international court” and judged by “from random countries across the globe.”

On July 25, Venezuela’s new administration announced plans to leave the Rome Statute and the ICC. The announcement followed the U.S. abduction of Nicolas Maduro in January.

The U.S. State Department welcomed the decision, praising “the new Venezuelan government's partnership on American-led efforts to dismantle the corrupt and worthless ICC” and urging “all members of the ICC to withdraw from the Rome Statute.”

Several days later, Chad’s military junta also announced that it would withdraw from the court. The authorities said the decision followed a request from Washington, which was urging other African countries to follow suit.

The sexual misconduct scandal involving ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who was dismissed in July, also gave Washington further grounds to criticize the institution.

In August, the United States imposed sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge, and Abdoulaye Seye, a Senegalese trial lawyer at the court. The launch of the sanctions had initially been expected around the time of the United Nations General Assembly.

Speculation had grown in recent months that Washington would eventually target the ICC as an institution rather than limiting sanctions to individual officials.

Last month, widespread reports suggested Trump might announce the measures during his address at the U.N. headquarters in New York. Unnamed sources in the United States and in The Hague said preparations for the sanctions were underway.

Trump ultimately delivered a sharp attack on the ICC in his September 22 speech, calling it an “evil” organization, but did not announce new sanctions at the time.