State Department adds sanctions to International Criminal Court
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesThe Trump administration is slapping fresh sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
The court, in The Hague, Netherlands, says it probes people for global atrocities — but the U.S. does not recognize its jurisdiction.
“We don’t need that court. And we don’t want it,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “They want to prosecute Border Patrol agents that are protecting our nation’s borders, and they want to prosecute our elected leaders that are ensuring our national security.”
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This is a continuation of the Trump administration’s unfriendly relationship with the ICC. The U.S. previously imposed sanctions on the court’s prosecutors and judges.
Mr. Rubio said the sanctions were structured to give the court’s 125 member states an opportunity to address U.S. concerns.
“We have been clear for over a year as to the basic gestures of good faith we have expected from the court. We exercised discretion and deferred this designation out of respect for our relationships and in hopes that the ICC would change course or would otherwise be restrained by States Parties,” he said. “However, neither the ICC nor States Parties have yet taken meaningful steps to address our concerns.”
The states are distributed across five U.N. regional groups.
“Despite their inaction, we hold out hope for a diplomatic solution,” Mr. Rubio said. “We have structured this action to provide an opportunity for States Parties to negotiate and present a solution to address our concerns. If these efforts do not bear fruit, we will continue to adjust accordingly.”
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Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters the sanctions “must be condemned,” and the court’s work will continue.
U.S. sanctions typically restrict or cut off financial, trade and travel relations with targeted foreign countries, companies, groups or individuals to pressure them into changing their behavior without using military force.
Mr. Rubio said the U.S. will “ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.”
A senior State Department official said the Treasury Department would issue licenses “to protect American interests,” Reuters reported.
Friday’s announcement follows President Trump’s February 2025 executive order finding that the ICC has “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
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The executive order cited preliminary investigations and arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying the ICC “abused its power.”
The order authorized asset freezes, U.S. entry bans for designated ICC officials and their families and penalties for entities assisting the court’s investigations into protected persons.
Sanctions the first Trump administration imposed on court officials in 2020 were lifted in 2021 under President Biden.
Mr. Rubio also launched a campaign on July 13 to “dismantle” the court and sanctioned ICC President Tomoko Akane on Aug. 18.
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Friday’s sanctions come hours after one of the ICC’s former judges, ex-U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Mary McCue Bell
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