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Barely a month appears to go by without Donald Trump making a fresh attempt to destroy the international rules-based order. The US has pulled funding from dozens of international institutions, shut down USAID and withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement. Nato may survive on paper, but Trump has made clear that he has little interest in coming to the aid of any ally that is attacked. The Board of Peace is clearly an attempt to sideline the United Nations.

But the state department’s announcement last week that it wishes to dismantle the international crihttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/24/icc-international-criminal-court-trump-putin-netanyahuminal court “brick by brick” could be Trump’s most frightening move of all.

This is not an idle social media post sent out late at night; there is no chance that the next person to speak to Trump might change his mind. It is now official US policy to destroy the ICC, and the administration is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to do so.

Nations that do not fall into line will be punished. The state department has promised “increased scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance”, particularly targeting those countries that “enjoy the benefits of the US security umbrella”. That will include the UK, a country that contributes just over £15m a year to the ICC, making it the fourth largest donor after Japan, Germany and France.

Travel and sanctions bans have already been imposed on judges and senior officials; now more will be targeted. As one of those previously threatened with sanctions told me, it can result in individuals being completely cut off from modern life. Personal bank accounts are shut down, while a whole host of US apps and websites, from Uber to booking.com, are off-limits. Email accounts can be blocked – Microsoft and Google are US companies. For the court itself, it means backing up evidence previously held on Microsoft systems.

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