Trump Administration Expands Pressure Campaign Against ICC, Targeting Supportive Nations

The Trump administration has intensified its campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), with US officials warning that countries continuing to support the Hague-based tribunal while relying on American assistance could face increased scrutiny.

The latest policy shift, announced earlier this month, marks Washington's effort to isolate the court through sanctions, diplomatic pressure and outreach to governments outside the ICC system.

The United States has long maintained a complicated relationship with the ICC. Although it played a key role in shaping post-Second World War international justice, Washington never joined the Rome Statute that established the court in 2002. Successive administrations have at times cooperated with ICC investigations while resisting the idea that American citizens or officials should fall under its jurisdiction.

President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on ICC officials during his first term, and his administration has now expanded that approach following his return to office.

Trump Administration Widens ICC Pressure Beyond Court Officials

The latest campaign goes beyond sanctioning judges and prosecutors. According to the US State Department, Washington intends to increase scrutiny of countries that continue recognising what it called the ICC's 'false authority' while benefiting from US security or financial assistance.

The policy also signals a wider diplomatic effort to work with countries that are not members of the ICC. Human rights groups have argued that such moves could weaken international efforts to investigate allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) described the announcement as the most serious attack yet on the world's only permanent international criminal court. In a statement issued on 20 July, the organisation said the proposed measures include pressure on ICC member states to withdraw from the Rome Statute, sanctions against the court and organisations that cooperate with it, and additional restrictions targeting ICC officials.

FIDH said the campaign 'is an attack on victims seeking justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression', arguing that it also undermines an institution established by 125 sovereign states to prosecute the gravest international crimes when national courts cannot.

The organisation linked the latest measures to Executive Order 14203, signed by Trump in February 2025, which created a sanctions framework targeting the ICC. According to FIDH, the expanded campaign demonstrates the court's significance rather than its weakness.

'Institutions that are irrelevant are not met with coordinated government efforts to dismantle them,' the group said, adding that sanctions against judges, prosecutors and organisations supporting the ICC show that 'international justice matters'.

ICC Supporters Warn of Huge Impact on International Justice

FIDH President Alexis Deswaef criticised the administration's position, saying the United States was demanding immunity rather than defending national sovereignty.

'The United States claims to be defending sovereignty while trampling it. One hundred and twenty-five sovereign states freely chose this Court and entrusted it with jurisdiction over the gravest crimes. Demanding immunity for one country's nationals is not a defence of sovereignty. It is a demand for impunity,' he said.

The organisation also warned that sanctions have already disrupted banking services, reduced funding for human rights groups and complicated the work of organisations assisting victims and documenting alleged international crimes.

Despite those challenges, FIDH said the ICC has continued operating, and civil society organisations have continued gathering evidence and supporting investigations.

The group urged all 125 ICC member states to reject pressure to withdraw from the Rome Statute, strengthen political and financial backing for the court, protect ICC officials and civil society groups from sanctions, and introduce safeguards against the extraterritorial effects of US restrictions.

FIDH Secretary General Drissa Traore said governments should respond by reinforcing, rather than retreating from, the institutions created to pursue accountability.

'If governments believe the ICC and those who support it are worth sanctioning, they are acknowledging something fundamental. Accountability matters,' he said. 'States created the ICC together. They now have the opportunity and the responsibility to defend it together.'

The Trump administration has argued that the ICC exceeds its authority, particularly in cases involving US allies and American nationals. The administration has not indicated any intention to reverse its current policy, and the pressure campaign appears set to remain a central feature of Washington's approach to the court.