Europe faces an April 2027 deadline to protect the ICC

The Trump administration placed the ICC on the US sanctions list on 9 October. The Commission said on 14 October that discussions were continuing. Nine days later, it advised European companies to continue providing services, citing temporary US authorisations and ongoing diplomacy. The source argues that this is not a durable strategy.

The expiring General License 13 covers essential operations, including salaries, insurance, contributions from States Parties and routine commercial services. Three other US licences cover more specific areas, including telecommunications and software, pensions, and certain transactions involving ICC detainees. Their expiry dates differ, but General License 13 provides the broad operational cover on which the Court currently relies.

Washington has described the six-month period as an opportunity for States Parties to address its concerns. These include withdrawing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, formally closing the Afghanistan investigation insofar as it concerns alleged crimes by US personnel, and changing the Rome Statute to bar the Court from exercising jurisdiction over US nationals, even when alleged crimes occur on a State Party’s territory. The central issue, the source argues, is whether the Court’s jurisdiction is determined by law or by governments’ political preferences.

Congress offers scrutiny, not a guaranteed reversal

Democrats have won control of both chambers of Congress, with the new Congress taking office in January. President Donald Trump retains his veto, making a legislative reversal of the sanctions unlikely. An opposition-controlled Congress can still hold hearings and scrutinise the effects on American banks and technology companies.

Brussels should not assume Democrats will automatically support the Court, the source says. In January 2025, 45 House Democrats backed a Republican bill to sanction the ICC; Senate Democrats later blocked it, partly over concerns about the bill’s breadth and its effects on US businesses and allies. The article argues Europe’s case should focus on the use of emergency economic powers against an independent court and the companies serving it, and the resulting damage to US interests and ties with allies.

The pressure has also reached Nato. According to reporting on a US diplomatic document, US ambassador Matthew Whitaker urged allies at a closed-door meeting of Nato ambassadors in Brussels in July to leave the Rome Statute and end material support for the ICC. The article stresses that this was a US demand, not a Nato position. Every Nato member except the United States and Türkiye is party to the statute.