The International Criminal Court faces sanctions from Trump

International censure, as well as some applause, has been expressed for U.S. President Donald Trump’s authorization of travel and economic restrictions directed against anyone who assist with International Criminal Court investigations of U.S. individuals or allies like Israel.

War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression committed by citizens of member states or against their territory may all be prosecuted by the ICC, a permanent court.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is sought by the ICC for his role in the war in Gaza, was in Washington on Thursday when Trump made his decision.

Trump was wrong to put sanctions on the ICC, according to statements made Friday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other EU officials.

“Sanctions are the wrong tool,” said Scholz. “They jeopardize an institution that is supposed to ensure that the dictators of this world cannot simply persecute people and start wars, and that is very important.”

Sanctioning the ICC “undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole,” according to a post on the social networking site Bluesky by Antonio Costa, head of the European Council of EU leaders.

The Netherlands, which is the home country of the Hague-based court, expressed sadness over the sanctions as well.

The ICC itself denounced the sanctions and declared that it “stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it.”

But Trump’s ardent supporter, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said the sanctions suggested it could be time to withdraw from the ICC.

It’s time for Hungary to take stock of our actions in a U.S.-sanctioned international organization! The political landscape is changing on a global scale. “On X, we refer to it as the Trump-tornado.”

Transport bans and asset freezes

On condition of anonymity, a source told Reuters that court officials met in The Hague on Friday to talk about the consequences of the sanctions.

In addition to prohibiting them and their families from traveling to the United States, the U.S. sanctions also freeze any assets held by individuals targeted.

It was unknown how soon the United States will make the identities of those sanctioned public. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her senior aides were sanctioned by Washington during the first Trump administration in 2020 because of the ICC’s investigation into possible war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

The ICC does not have membership from the US, China, Russia, or Israel.

A Republican-led attempt to enact legislation establishing a sanctions system against the war crimes court was rejected by U.S. Senate Democrats last week, and Trump issued the executive order.

As the court prepared for financial constraints that would derail the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month that it had taken steps to protect employees from potential U.S. sanctions, paying wages three months in advance.

The president of the court, Judge Tomoko Akane, issued a warning in December that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”

The court has also come under fire from Russia. The ICC accused President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in 2023, including the unlawful deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine, and issued an arrest warrant for him. Karim Khan, the head of the ICC, has been prohibited from entering Russia, and he and two ICC judges have been added to its wanted list.