Trump Authorizes Sanctions on ICC, Sparking Global Reactions

U.S. President Donald Trump has approved economic and travel sanctions targeting individuals involved in International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations of U.S. citizens or allies such as Israel, drawing both condemnation and support from the international community.

The ICC, a permanent tribunal, has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and acts of aggression committed on the territory of member states or by their nationals.

Trump’s decision on Thursday coincided with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently wanted by the ICC over the war in Gaza.

On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other European Union leaders criticized Trump’s move. “Sanctions are the wrong tool,” Scholz stated. “They jeopardize an institution that is supposed to ensure that the dictators of this world cannot simply persecute people and start wars, and that is very important.”

Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, expressed his disapproval on Bluesky, saying that sanctioning the ICC “undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole.” The Netherlands, home to the ICC in The Hague, also voiced regret over the sanctions.

The ICC itself denounced the measures, affirming that it “stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it.”

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch Trump ally, expressed a contrasting view, suggesting Hungary reconsider its membership in the ICC. “It’s time for Hungary to review what we’re doing in an international organization that is under U.S. sanctions! New winds are blowing in international politics. We call it the Trump-tornado,” Orban wrote on X.

Court officials convened in The Hague on Friday to evaluate the impact of the sanctions, a source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The sanctions include freezing any U.S. assets of those designated and prohibiting them and their families from traveling to the United States. It remains unclear how soon the U.S. will release the names of those sanctioned. During Trump’s first term in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and a top aide over investigations into alleged American war crimes in Afghanistan.

The United States, China, Russia, and Israel are not ICC members. Trump’s executive order followed a failed attempt by Senate Republicans to pass legislation establishing a sanctions regime against the court.

In response to the anticipated financial constraints, the ICC has taken measures to protect its staff, including prepaying salaries three months in advance, sources told Reuters last month. In December, ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane warned that such sanctions would “rapidly undermine the court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”

Russia has also taken action against the ICC. In 2023, the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes related to the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. Moscow retaliated by banning ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from entering the country and placing him and two ICC judges on its wanted list.

By fLEXI tEAM