Politics 5 min read By Arthur Ellington
US sanctions cut ICC off from dollar and US technology
Washington imposes sweeping measures on the International Criminal Court, setting a six-month wind-down for US entities and prompting a joint rebuke from eight allies including the UK.
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, cutting the tribunal off from US-based financial services, technology companies and the use of the US dollar as part of a campaign to dismantle the court over its investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the measures on Friday, saying Washington would «ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us». He added that «the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC».
The sanctions set a six-month timeline for US companies and individuals with business ties to the court to wind those arrangements down. The practical effect is to sever the ICC from the American financial system and from US suppliers of software, cloud computing and other technology on which international institutions routinely depend.
The court denounced the move in unusually blunt terms, describing it as an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the tribunal from doing what it was created to do. «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,» the ICC said in a statement.
ICC President Tomoko Akane, a citizen of US 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 appealed to other ICC members for support, arguing that «this is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law».
Rights groups also condemned the sanctions. Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty International, said the «existential attack must fail» and called on states to take concrete action to resist the measures and actively protect the court.
The timing of the announcement drew attention because it followed the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former judge at the ICC and other international courts. President Donald Trump has long coveted the prize and, after the award was announced, reshared a social media post attacking Pillay as an «unabashed hater of America and Israel».
The court's host country, the Netherlands, has been preparing for weeks for the move. One possible countermeasure is the EU «blocking statute», which could shield European court staff by preventing European companies from complying with the US 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 it can be enacted quickly if necessary.
In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom expressed strong disagreement with the US 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 urged US allies to join the American actions, warning that if they do not, «the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer». The remarks appeared to contradict a speech he gave only two days earlier in front of the Acropolis in Athens, where he embraced themes of the rule of law and the international order.
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, adding to the pressure on an institution already facing a funding and legitimacy squeeze.
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