By Lucretia Hughes
UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump delivered a forceful defense of American sovereignty before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, denouncing the International Criminal Court as an “anti-American” institution and calling on countries belonging to the court to withdraw.
Speaking during the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Trump argued that international institutions should not exercise authority over the United States without the country’s consent and declared that his administration would protect American military personnel from prosecution by the ICC.
“The United States is equally opposed to the out-of-control institution known as the International Criminal Court,” Trump said.
Trump said his administration would not permit U.S. service members or other Americans to face what he characterized as “show trials” conducted by an “anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us.” He then urged countries participating in the ICC to leave the organization.
“I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately,” Trump said.
The president’s remarks highlighted a longstanding dispute between Washington and the international court headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.
The ICC was established under the Rome Statute, which entered into force in 2002. The court prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression under circumstances defined by the treaty.
The United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute and does not recognize the ICC’s general authority over the United States. Israel also is not a party to the treaty. The Trump administration has argued that attempts by the court to exercise authority over Americans or officials of nonmember allies violate national sovereignty.
The jurisdictional question is more complicated when alleged conduct occurs in a country that has accepted the court’s jurisdiction. The ICC maintains that the Rome Statute can permit it to investigate nationals of nonmember countries for alleged crimes committed on the territory of a member state or another territory over which the court has jurisdiction. The United States has disputed attempts to apply that authority to American personnel without U.S. consent.
Trump’s criticism Tuesday was therefore not the beginning of America’s dispute with the ICC.
In February 2025, Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions related to ICC actions targeting the United States and Israel. The order stated that neither country had accepted the court’s jurisdiction and accused the ICC of asserting authority without a legitimate basis.
Congress has also previously acted to protect American personnel from the court. The American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002 established protections concerning U.S. military personnel and government officials facing potential prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not a party. Trump’s 2025 executive order specifically cited that law.
Trump placed the ICC dispute within a much broader argument about national sovereignty during Tuesday’s address.
“There is no global government,” Trump told the assembly, adding that under his presidency there would be no global taxes.
Later in the address, Trump connected sovereignty with immigration policy and rejected the idea that international organizations should determine how the United States controls its borders.
“There is no human right to illegal immigration, but there is a right to remain a sovereign nation,” Trump said. “And we want to remain a sovereign nation, and so should you.”
The White House characterized Trump’s address as a declaration that the United States would resist what the administration describes as international efforts to diminish American sovereignty.
Trump also criticized U.N. human rights officials, arguing that international organizations devote disproportionate attention to U.S. domestic policies while failing to adequately confront abuses committed by authoritarian governments. He specifically raised the persecution of Christians around the world and criticized international approaches to mass migration. Those characterizations reflect Trump’s arguments before the assembly and remain subjects of international political dispute.
The president’s remarks came during a wide-ranging address covering Iran, immigration, artificial intelligence, international security and America’s position in the world. Trump repeatedly framed his foreign policy around the principle that international cooperation should not supersede national sovereignty.
His attack on the ICC was among the clearest examples of that position.
The dispute ultimately centers on a fundamental question in international law: how far an international tribunal’s authority can extend when a country has declined to join the treaty that created it.
For the United States, Trump made his administration’s position unmistakable Tuesday: Washington will not accept ICC authority over Americans merely because an international institution claims it.
And from the podium of the United Nations itself, the president used the larger argument to deliver his message to other governments — international cooperation does not require surrendering national sovereignty.
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