Trump Administration Prepares Sanctions Against International Criminal Court

The administration of US President Donald Trump has reportedly prepared sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and intends to announce them soon, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. This development aims to escalate the US campaign against the tribunal, which handles cases of war crimes and genocide.

Officials in the Trump administration have pushed for the ICC to withdraw arrest warrants against Israeli leaders as well as end a previous investigation into alleged misconduct by US troops in Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier called for countries to isolate the court and advocated for others to withdraw from its jurisdiction.

Although Washington has already sanctioned several ICC judges and prosecutors, these were individual measures and did not target the organisation as a whole. The new sanctions would be broader in scope, affecting the entire ICC and potentially other entities that cooperate with it, the sources said. The US Treasury would prohibit American individuals and businesses from conducting transactions with the ICC without official sanction approval, which could strongly impact the court’s daily operations.

The Wall Street Journal reported that these sanctions could be announced as early as this week during the United Nations General Assembly meeting. The State Department did not immediately provide a comment when approached on the matter.

According to warnings from the ICC’s registrar and president, such sanctions could disrupt purchasing IT services and insurance, hiring investigators, and conducting routine financial transactions, including the payment of American staff. The Trump administration’s criticism of the court dates back to its first term and intensified following the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict in November 2024.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute cases of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and has jurisdiction only if national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute such offences. The United States and Israel have not joined the court.