As part of a sweeping strategy to reclaim national sovereignty and bolster its support for the state of Israel, President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on yet another global governance institution.

On Thursday, February 6, President Trump signed an executive order “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” or ICC. The executive order imposes potential economic and visa-based consequences on the body, which Americans have long feared could charge and try U.S. soldiers under international criminal law.

The executive order especially highlighted the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the United States and other non-signatory nations, and it highly criticized the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against Israeli officials, including President Benjamin Netanyahu, for prosecuting its war against Hamas. “The International Criminal Court (ICC), as established by the Rome Statute, has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” states the order. “The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC.”

The sanctions, Trump stated, “may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

President Trump’s latest move comes amid a flurry of executive orders and sovereignty-enhancing measures aimed at paring back global bureaucracy, including the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and the climate change-focused Paris Accords, and curtailing U.S. funding of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The UNHRC and UNRWA are also indefatigable critics of Israel.

The ICC responded with a mixture of regret and defiance. “The Court 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 [s]ituations before it,” replied the ICC on Friday. Additionally, 79 foreign nations signed a statement supporting the ICC.

But the order received praise from conservatives in the United States and around the world.

‘Bring on the Sanctions’

“Pres. Trump is right — The International Criminal Court keeps the U.S. and Israel in its crosshairs while ignoring actual atrocities. Bring on the sanctions,” said Senator John Kennedy (R-La.). 

“The International Criminal Court shamefully equated Israel’s right to defend itself with the acts of radical terror groups like Hamas. In Congress, I co-led legislation to sanction the ICC for their attacks against American soldiers, officials, and our allies. President Trump’s Executive Order will hold these corrupt international bureaucrats of the ICC accountable for the baseless campaign of this illegitimate court,” said Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and sometimes social liberal whom President Trump tapped as his Ambassador to the United Nations. 

The top-down imposition of sanctions on the ICC come after Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), filibustered a bill that would have taken many of the same steps late last month. The bill fell six votes short of the 60-vote margin necessary to clear the procedural hurdle, with Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) the only Democrat to vote for it.

“Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Netanyahu. Their charges are bogus. Last week, the Senate had an opportunity to impose severe sanctions on the ICC. This would have sent a strong message that America stands with Israel. Instead, Democrats blocked the sanctions,” noted Senator John Barasso (R-Wyo.) last Friday. 

Numerous foreign nations have followed the president’s lead. Argentina, under the leadership of libertarian-leaning President Javier Milei, has also exited both WHO and UNHRC.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called President Trump’s decision to sanctions the International Criminal Court “absolutely understandable” under the circumstances. “The ICC has degraded itself into a biased political tool, discrediting the entire international judicial system. Its decisions have only deepened uncertainty in already troubled regions of the world,” he said.

Hungary is now considering following America’s leadership and reassessing its role in the ICC, as well. 

Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, also proposed ending its membership in the World Health Organization. “If the most powerful country in the world decides to leave an international organization, then I think the Hungarian government would act carefully if it were to consider whether it should not take this step,” said Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Hungarian prime minister’s office, last Thursday.

Israel has also followed President Trump’s lead and withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, where it represented the chief target of its human rights resolutions and threatened reprisals.

‘Sovereignty Matters’

The United States has had a contentious and controversial relationship with the ICC for decades. As one of his last acts as a lame duck president, Bill Clinton signed the 1998 Rome Treaty on the International Criminal Court on December 31, 2000 — but Congress has never ratified the document.

Americans have long feared the globalist criminal body would assert sovereignty over U.S. soldiers and try them under international law, without the constitutional protections and legal presuppositions afforded to Americans as their birthright. Trump previously signed another executive order in 2020 after the ICC launched an investigation alleging that U.S. soldiers may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

“The U.S. should never ratify the so-called ‘Rome Statute’ — the treaty that created the International Criminal Court. Those are three words that should never be used in the same sentence in the United States — ‘international,’ ‘criminal,’ and ‘court,’” said Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), a principled constitutionalist, last May.

“Sovereignty matters,” said Lee.