The Trump administration is preparing to implement expansive economic sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Wall Street Journal reported.
The upcoming US penalties would prohibit most financial and commercial transactions with the international tribunal following a grace period of six to seven months, according to the newspaper.
The planned sanctions mark a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s punitive actions, shifting from targeting individual court personnel to imposing broad restrictions across the entire organisation.
Sources cited in the report indicated that Washington could finalise the executive measures as soon as this week during the UN General Assembly session or shortly thereafter.
Washington has already penalised numerous tribunal personnel, including ICC President Tomoko Akane, under an executive order issued in February 2025 that declared a national emergency over court proceedings.
The sustained campaign follows the ICC issuing arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
A State Department spokesman declined to preview any sanctions decisions, the Journal said.
Last month, the ICC strongly rejected new US sanctions targeting the court’s president and a senior lawyer in its prosecutor’s office, describing the measures as a “flagrant attack” on judicial independence.
The Trump administration has imposed the sanctions in retaliation for ICC investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan and for warrants the court issued against top Israeli officials.
The latest designations target ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, a senior trial lawyer at the Office of the Prosecutor, the Hague-based court said in a statement.
