On Monday, the United States announced a diplomatic and economic campaign aimed at dismantling the International Criminal Court (ICC). Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a video message, an opinion column, and a State Department statement, declared that the ICC “and its friends are waging a war against our country” through what he called “so-called international law.” The campaign, described as a “whole-of-government response,” includes visa revocations, travel bans, expanded sanctions against ICC officials and affiliated organisations, and direct diplomatic pressure on foreign governments to withdraw from the court. “Using all the tools at our government’s disposal … we will dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary,” Rubio wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Washington’s central charge is that the ICC, by claiming jurisdiction over American citizens despite the US never having ratified the Rome Statute, poses an “intolerable threat to US sovereignty.” The State Department pointed to the court’s 2020 investigation into alleged war crimes by US forces in Afghanistan, and warned that future probes could target Border Patrol agents, military personnel, and federal prosecutors for actions such as deportations to El Salvador or drone strikes against drug traffickers. The administration also objects to the ICC’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza. According to a State Department official, the campaign is designed to “systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate” and to ensure it cannot target Americans. The US had already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several ICC officials, including the prosecutor; three sanctioned judges have since filed a lawsuit in New York arguing the measures are unlawful.

Viewed from European and other capitals, the US offensive marks a sharp escalation in a long-running dispute. The ICC, established in 2002 and based in The Hague, prosecutes genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity under the principle of complementarity — it acts only when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so. The court has 123 member states, but the US, Israel, Russia, and China are not parties. Washington is now pressing allies that host US military forces, cooperate with American law enforcement, or benefit from US security assistance to publicly reject the ICC’s jurisdiction over Americans. A State Department official told Reuters that nations refusing to do so while relying on US aid “are likely to come under increased scrutiny.” The ICC itself declined to comment on the campaign, but legal observers in The Hague warn that sustained diplomatic and financial pressure could hamper investigations and cooperation in conflict zones.

The Trump administration frames the campaign as a defence of national sovereignty against “globalist” overreach. Rubio’s column accused the ICC of being “backed and run by a powerful network of left-wing NGOs, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments.” The State Department said no diplomatic option is off the table, and that senior officials, including Rubio and US ambassadors, are already contacting foreign governments to urge withdrawal from the Rome Statute and to cut off financial support. The dossier now moves into an operational phase: Washington will monitor which countries join its effort, while the ICC faces the prospect of further sanctions and a potential erosion of its membership base. The next concrete steps are expected to include additional visa bans and the formal designation of new sanctions targets.