The Trump administration is preparing new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to multiple reports. The move comes months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the court following its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the sanctions would include a six-to-seven-month grace period before most transactions with the ICC would be banned. The Journal says the measures could prohibit the court from conducting transactions in U.S. dollars, potentially cutting it off from the global financial system.
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The measures would exempt transactions related to communications services, according to documents reviewed by the Journal.
It is not yet clear when the new sanctions will be announced, but U.S. officials told the Journal they could be finalized as soon as this week during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
The Netherlands, which hosts the ICC, is looking at ways to help the court maintain payments to staff and protected witnesses and ensure security at its detention facility is not disrupted, according to The Associated Press.
Sanctions already in place
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The International Criminal Court prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crime of aggression.
More than a dozen current and former ICC staff members, including half of the court’s sitting judges, have already been sanctioned by the U.S. In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said those sanctions are part of a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.”
Rubio said the U.S. goal is to pressure all 125 member states to withdraw from the court. He also said the Trump administration would sanction organizations that work with the ICC and ban the court’s staff from traveling to the United States.
The ICC was established in 2002 under the Rome Statute. The court has jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of member states or by their nationals. The U.S. signed the treaty but never ratified it.
Sources familiar with the situation told the AP that U.S. officials encouraged the Netherlands to withdraw from the ICC before the sanctions hit.
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