US President Donald Trump has called on countries to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as the debate over the court’s role and jurisdiction continues at the United Nations General Assembly.
US President Donald Trump addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 22, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US President Donald Trump called Tuesday for all nations that are part of the International Criminal Court to quit the body, calling it “out of control.”
“The United States is equally opposed to the out-of-control institution known as the International Criminal Court,” he said at the United Nations.
“I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately,” he added.
Trump addressed the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 22, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has vowed to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick,” describing the court as an “intolerable threat to US sovereignty.”
The body tries individuals for the world’s worst crimes.
Washington has imposed a series of sanctions on ICC officials, furious at the court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a close US ally.
On Tuesday, Trump said Washington would “never allow US service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show-trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us.”
The United States is not an ICC member and has never ratified the Rome Statute that established the court. Israel, Russia and China are also not members.
