The Trump administration announced sweeping financial sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, October 9, 2026, escalating its campaign against the tribunal that the administration says has overreached its authority and pursued politically motivated cases against Americans and Israelis.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a video statement posted on social media. "We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us," Rubio said. "The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC." The announcement came hours after South African prosecutor Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, though administration officials indicated the sanctions decision predated that award.
Under the new restrictions, any assets belonging to the ICC within U.S. jurisdiction will be frozen. American individuals and companies maintaining business relationships with the tribunal will have six months to terminate those arrangements. The Treasury Department has granted a 180-day general license allowing the ICC to maintain operations during this period, with certain exemptions for telecommunications, software, pension payments, and detainee-related transactions. Rubio stated that the sanctions were structured to give the court and its member states an opportunity to address U.S. concerns.
The ICC, established in 2002 by international treaty to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, strongly condemned the sanctions as "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order." The court said the measure was "an attempt to obstruct the course of justice" and called on its 125 member states to defend it. ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese citizen, 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."
Rubio argued that concerns about the ICC extend across the American political spectrum but credited President Trump with taking decisive action. "Both parties agree on this, but only President Trump has the resolve to take the action needed to end this threat once and for all," Rubio said. "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC." The administration's concerns center on arrest warrants the ICC issued for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and past investigations into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan—a case the ICC has since deprioritized.
The move marks the latest escalation in Trump's opposition to the court. During his first term (2017-2021), Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC, which were later rescinded under the Biden administration. After Trump returned to office in January 2025, he signed an executive order reimposing sanctions and has since added sanctions targeting 17 individual judges and prosecutors. Friday's announcement is the first time the administration has sanctioned the ICC as an institution.
Rubio called on American allies—many of whom are NATO members and rely on U.S. military support—to join the U.S. campaign against the court. "We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in this rogue court," he said. "If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer."
However, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Britain issued a joint statement reaffirming their unwavering support for the ICC. "If put into effect, these sanctions will have a significant impact on the Court's work, its dedicated staff and their families," the ministers said. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen called the sanctions "a deeply regrettable step" but noted that the six-month window "creates scope for dialogue." The court is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and is supported by all European Union member states and NATO members except the United States and Turkey.
