A Trump-led US battle against international law

The world has expressed heightened concern over the United States' sanctions against the International Criminal Court, a body set up to try some of the world's most serious crimes.

The sanctions, first reported by Reuters, will hit companies that provide services to the global court—greatly threatening basic operations for investigations.

The ICC operates under the Rome Statute in order to hold individuals accountable for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in acts of aggression.

"It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do," the court said in response to the sanctions. "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 president said it will "continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality."

The new US sanctions target ICC assets held in the US, as well as any American businesses that equip telecommunications, banking, and insurance. They come on top of earlier sanctions on the ICC president and other prosecutors.

"Such actions aim to directly challenge an international legal institution painstakingly built to ensure that accountability, not impunity, prevails," the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties said in a statement.

Each country who has either ratified or acceded to the Rome Statue have a representative as part of the Bureau to oversee the ICC.

"The Bureau ... calls for the immediate revocation of these sanctions."

What matters

There can be a conversation about whether international law works, and how it isn't applied equally among all parts of the world and all populations. These are important discussions that should happen no matter what.

But the fact is that international law matters—especially at a time of heightened conflict globally, and especially as countries increasingly ignore rules of war.

And it says a lot that a superpower is moving to dismantle the international court, especially a global giant with overwhelming economic and political might. Could other nations take on similar actions? Could other states muster enough support?

And it says a lot that this is coming from a hypocritical country, largely prior to US president Donald Trump's rule, that went around the world insisting other nations herald democracy and uphold human rights. (I wrote about this in 2024.) It gives off, do as I say, not as I do.

And it says a lot that this is coming from a Trump-led US that is more often violating international law and the rules of war in multiple parts of the world, and supporting other countries (Russia, Israel, et al) who are also doing the same.

“Heads of countries have a particular responsibility to spell out the principles, which is that you respect the law, you respect international law,” Navanethem Pillay said in an interview with the Associated Press after being given the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on, yes, international justice.

"It does affect the whole world if the rule of law is not respected."

The reason why

All this begs to question why?

The US under both Democrat and Republican leadership has never cooperated with the ICC. The country signed to form the Rome Statute but never ratified it.

President Donald Trump's administration has pushed back on the ICC's investigations—and arrest warrants—into its ally Israel's actions in the occupied Palestinian Territories. The US also denounced an investigation into potential war crimes by American personnel in the war on Afghanistan.

The US and Israel are not member states to the ICC, but potential crimes committed by any state in ICC member territories can be investigated. Afghanistan and Palestine are under the purview of the Court.

There was something else that US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in his statement: "Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans." Whether this was in reference to Afghanistan or an incoming investigation remains to be unclear.

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