The European Union sharply rejected the Trump administration's campaign against the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, directly challenging the US claim that The Hague-based tribunal threatens American sovereignty.
In a blunt statement, EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said the bloc would not tolerate attacks on the court or its personnel. "We stand firm in our support for the international criminal court," he said. "Attacks or threats against the court, elected officials, personnel or those cooperating with the court are simply not acceptable."
The rebuke came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a video and op-ed declaring that the ICC "threatens every aspect of our political and legal system" and pledging the administration would work to "systematically disable" the global tribunal.
El Anouni dismantled the sovereignty argument at the heart of the US position. The ICC "does not target sovereign states, nor does it constitute a threat to their sovereignty," he said. Instead, it "exercises jurisdiction over individuals, perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community," he added, highlighting the court's role in prosecuting those responsible for genocide and war crimes.
The Trump administration's escalating pressure on the court marks a dramatic shift from earlier measures. Since returning to power, the administration has sanctioned 11 ICC officials, including the chief prosecutor and eight judges, subjecting them to cancelled credit cards, frozen digital accounts, and travel bans to the United States.
The state department signaled the campaign would intensify, threatening to pressure nations to withdraw from the ICC and impose "increased scrutiny" on countries that refuse to leave while accepting US aid. Ukraine, currently relying on American military and financial support following Russia's invasion, could face particular pressure since the ICC launched an investigation into alleged war crimes there in 2022.
In his op-ed, Rubio invoked inflammatory imagery of US border agents and elected officials "dragged before an international court" and tried by international judges. Yet legal experts say this misrepresents the court's actual authority and reach.
The ICC can only investigate crimes in countries that have ratified its founding statute, or cases referred by the UN security council. Critically, the United States has never joined the court, severely limiting its direct jurisdiction over American citizens. An estimated 100 countries have signed bilateral agreements with the US promising not to hand over Americans to the tribunal.
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Rubio was disguising a bid for impunity under the sovereignty banner. "The ICC is not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States. Rubio is dressing up his quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty, which ignores the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory."
Former US sanctions officials suggest the real motivation lies elsewhere. One former senior government official told reporters the campaign appeared designed to head off ICC scrutiny of Trump administration actions, whether past moves in Venezuela or future military operations on territory where the court has jurisdiction. Rubio's own op-ed bolstered this view, explicitly citing activist demands that the court prosecute the administration for deportation policies and US military strikes.
Roth went further, warning the administration may be seeking to shield itself from accountability for potential future actions. "Trump wants to be able to commit war crimes on the territory of countries that have accepted the court's jurisdiction," he said. "That's what this is about."
Author James Rodriguez: "The administration's pivot from quiet sanctions to a full-throated assault on the ICC's legitimacy signals real fear, not principled sovereignty concerns. When a government spends this much political capital attacking a court it claims has no power over it, you know exactly what it's actually worried about."
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