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The Trump administration has imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions on Friday, after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African prosecutor Navi Pillay, a former judge at the ICC and other international courts.
U.S. President Donald Trump has coveted that prize for himself. The move, however, long predated the Nobel Prize announcement.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us,” Rubio said in a video address posted to social media. “The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”
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The sanctions cut the court off from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies and even using U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down.
The ICC denounced the step as an attack on the rule of law and the foundations of international order — themes that Rubio had appeared to embrace only two days ago in a speech in front of the Acropolis in Athens.
It called on its 125 member states to take action to defend it.
“It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the court from doing what it was created to do,” the court said in a statement. “It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law.”
ICC President Tomoko Akane, a citizen of U.S. ally Japan, said the court would “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.”
She also appealed to other ICC members for support. “This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law.”
The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Friday’s move would go much farther, by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself.
‘Existential attack’
Rights groups also denounced the sanctions.
“This existential attack must fail,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, an Amnesty International senior director. “States must take concrete action to resist the imposition of these measures and actively protect the court.”
The court’s host country of the Netherlands has been preparing for weeks for the move. One possible measure to mitigate sanctions is the EU blocking statute, which could be used to protect European court staff by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures.
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen has called the blocking statute the “nuclear option” in countering possible sanctions, but said the Netherlands has been in talks with the European Commission to ensure that if it is necessary, it can be quickly enacted.
In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom expressed strong disagreement with the U.S. sanctions.
“We will continue to work together to support the court’s vital work, uphold the rules-based international system and advance accountability,” the statement said.
“If put into effect, these sanctions will have a significant impact on the court’s work, its dedicated staff and their families. They work every day to bring those accused of the most serious international crimes to justice and to support their victims.”
Rubio calls on allies to join in on sanctions
Rubio said U.S. allies should join in the U.S. actions. “If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer,” he said.
A number of countries have withdrawn from the court this year, including Venezuela and Chad. The South Pacific island nation of Naoero was the most recent to announce it would quit.
Rubio said both Republicans and Democrats have deep reservations about the court, which was established to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity that might not otherwise be handled by the parties involved.
But he said that only Trump was willing to move against the court.
“Both parties agree on this, but only President Trump has the resolve to take the action needed to end this threat once and for all,” Rubio said. “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”
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