European states, Canada, Japan and UN back ICC against US sanctions
The United States has imposed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with the “rogue court” and that President Donald Trump would never allow The Hague to prosecute Americans. The Treasury set a six-month grace period and exemptions for telecommunications, software, pensions and detainee-related payments. Created in 2002 to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when national courts cannot or will not, the ICC has 125 members. The Trump administration says it overreached by pursuing officials from non-members such as Israel; the United States and Israel have never joined. More than a dozen judges and prosecutors were sanctioned before the court itself on Friday. The ICC called the move an assault on the rule of law.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply alarmed and called the decision a serious blow to international criminal justice. Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan jointly said they regret and strongly disagree. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot urged the EU Blocking Statute. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the move, calling the ICC a political body threatening sovereignty. In 2024 the court issued an arrest warrant for him on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges over the war on Gaza.
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