The International Criminal Court has dozens of American employees on its payroll. After the Trump administration's next move, it won't be able to cut their checks.
That's what happens when you issue arrest warrants for America's allies.
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing sweeping sanctions that would prohibit most transactions with the ICC after a grace period of six to seven months. The sanctions would bar U.S. citizens and companies from providing the ICC with money, goods, or services without a license from the U.S. Treasury. We're talking insurance policies, IT contracts, investigator salaries, everyday financial transactions — the plumbing that keeps a bureaucracy alive.
The decision could be finalized as soon as this week, while world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a campaign to isolate the ICC back in July. This is the follow-through.
The court, established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, has never included the United States among its members. Washington has always kept it at arm's length. But the relationship went from chilly to hostile in November 2024, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The court had also previously opened an investigation into alleged abuses involving U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
President Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 sanctioning more than a dozen individual ICC judges and prosecutors. In August, the administration added ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye to the sanctions list, with restrictions taking effect September 17. Four U.S.-based rights groups sued the administration in August, arguing the sanctions obstruct legal and human rights work.
The new round isn't targeting individuals. It's targeting the institution itself. Every contract, every vendor relationship, every bank transfer — all of it subject to Treasury licensing. A court that can't transact is a court that can't function.
The ICC's former Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, was ousted, with his lawyers claiming political persecution. Meanwhile, Chad and Venezuela both moved to withdraw from the court in July 2026, following earlier departures by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The exits aren't random. Countries are doing the math on what membership in an American-sanctioned institution costs them.
The rights groups suing the administration frame this as an assault on international justice. These are the same organizations that had nothing to say when the ICC's jurisdiction crept from war-torn failed states to the sitting prime minister of a U.S. ally. The concern for institutional norms is selective.
A court nobody in America voted for, that America never joined, tried to assert authority over American personnel and American allies. The response wasn't a sternly worded letter. It was an executive order, a sanctions campaign, and now a financial blockade.
The grace period is six to seven months. The IT contracts come up for renewal before that.
