Trump sanctions International Criminal Court, claiming it targets the US and ally Israel
Donald Trump has authorised economic and travel sanctions against people who work on International Criminal Court investigations "targeting" US citizens or "close allies" such as Israel.
The move mirrors actions Trump took during his first term in office.
Trump’s announcement coincides Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington earlier this week.
Netanyahu, alongside his former defense minister and a Hamas leader are among those currently sought by the ICC over the war in the Gaza Strip.
It was unclear how quickly the US would announce names of people sanctioned. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.
The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It comes as Donald Trump is poised to unveil his proposal to end the Ukraine war in 100 days, reports have claimed.
The sanctions include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.
It’s the latest in a string of executive orders signed by the US president in recent days, with Trump inking one such order on Wednesday to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sport.
The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members.
Trump signed the executive order after US Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up a sanctions regime targeting the war crimes court.
The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible U.S. sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.
In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would "rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardise its very existence."
Russia has also taken aim at the court.
In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Russia has banned entry to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan and placed him and two ICC judges on its wanted list.
It comes as US President allegedly expected to unveil his proposal at next week’s Munich Security Conference.
The 100-day plan will involve President Trump holding a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in early February.
Trump then plans to meet with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky together later in February or in March.
A ceasefire has allegedly been pinpointed for Easter, on April 20, which would see soldiers on both sides lay down arms while Ukrainian troops withdraw from Russia’s Kursk region.
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