WASHINGTON, DC – The administration of President Donald Trump is escalating its pressure campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), with the US State Department vowing to “take a whole-of-government response to systematically disable” the court’s ability to operate.
The State Department’s “campaign” was announced in a news release on Monday, accompanied by a video statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
It comes amid widespread threats to punish any group that supports investigations against the United States and its allies, particularly Israel, and comes as the Trump administration has already imposed sanctions on ICC officials and rights groups who have submitted evidence to the court.
Rubio ramped up the rhetoric in a video statement, accusing the court of waging war against our country “not with bullets and missiles, but with the power of statutes, treaties, and so-called international law.”
“Today it threatens every aspect of our political and legal system,” he said. “If they believe they can take away our sovereignty, we will give them a thorough lesson in the meaning of America’s resolve.”
Although the announcement contained few specific measures, it did list several “measures under consideration.”
It also called on countries partnering with the U.S. military and law enforcement to “deny the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute U.S. officials and military personnel.”
It also listed “increased scrutiny of countries that rely on U.S. support but refuse to reject the ICC’s false mandate,” as well as “increased sanctions” and travel bans against ICC officials and organizations.
The United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the founding charter that established the court in 2002, so it is not subject to its jurisdiction.
However, ICC officials determined that the U.S. national could be investigated and potentially prosecuted as part of an investigation into human rights violations in Charter states.
For example, the ICC has been investigating alleged war crimes in Afghanistan since 2020, including alleged abuses by U.S. military and intelligence personnel, but no U.S. citizens have yet been indicted.
Successive US administrations have maintained that US citizens cannot be prosecuted in court, and the Justice Department reiterated that position to ICC President Tomoko Akane in a letter sent in late June.
During his first term as US president, President Trump imposed the first round of sanctions against ICC officials in 2020 in response to the Afghanistan investigation.
US President Joe Biden’s administration subsequently lifted these sanctions, but the US’s official opposition to the investigation remained unchanged.
timing is unclear
William Shabazz, a professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, called the timing of the announcement “disconcerting” despite years of criticism of the court by the Trump administration.
He noted that the ICC has not taken any action related to the United States or its allies since President Trump took office in January 2025, but the administration may be “speculating where the court will investigate.”
The administration has taken several steps that international law experts say could end up being investigated, including war against Iran during the U.S.-Israel war, attacks on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Shabazz also explained that the heightened rhetoric has outweighed the relatively limited concrete actions the United States could take, other than imposing additional sanctions or rallying allies against the ICC.
Nevertheless, he assessed that the administration may view the ICC’s position as weakening in dealing with the internal scandal surrounding Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan.
“Maybe they feel that if they kick a little more, they can deliver a fatal blow,” he says.
Reid Jarrah, advocacy director for DAWN, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights group, said the Trump administration’s recent efforts “send a message that those in power are above the law.”
“What Mr. Rubio is dismantling brick by brick is not the ICC, but the rules-based international order that was born from the ashes of World War II,” he said in a statement.
