In his Sept. 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Donald Trump called the International Criminal Court an anti-American tribunal and urged countries to withdraw their membership. Washington, Beijing, Moscow, New Delhi, and Jerusalem never joined. The United States has reportedly been assembling a sanctions package against the court as an institution — if imposed, this could mean the denial of basic services such as banking and insurance by U.S.-based firms. Thus far, the European Union and Japan have refused to follow Washington’s lead.

Soaring rhetoric about the international legal order aside, the ICC’s performance has been far less than stellar. Shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to take it apart in July, the ICC’s own members ousted its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, over sexual misconduct allegations. Washington had already sanctioned Khan over the arrest warrants he requested for top Israeli officials. The sexual misconduct complaint was made in 2024. The court took nearly two years to act.