US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sharply criticised the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of using international law to restrict American actions and warning that Washington would resist attempts to enforce its rulings against US citizens.
The US has never consented to the court’s jurisdiction, Rubio said at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington on Friday.
“Americans have never agreed to be governed by the ICC,” Rubio said, criticising the tribunal and its supporters for having “pretended to be judge, jury and executioner of the international order”.
He also cautioned that any effort to implement the court’s rulings on Americans would be met with a stern response. “Stop quoting laws at men with swords,” he quoted Roman general Pompey.
Rubio’s comments come as the Trump administration has been engaged in a legal battle with the Netherlands-based court. The disagreement involves arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the court’s investigation into supposed crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.
New sanctions against ICC officials are due in April, the administration announced last month, unless a deal can be struck, Reuters reported.
Elsewhere in the speech, Rubio also revived a debate over whether he has presidential aspirations for 2028, a bid he has dismissed.
