In what world does this matter, at all ?
Are they in some alternate universe where the ICC police will swoop and arrest the president of the United States, and everything will be alright ?
It’ll severely limit his ability to travel internationally. Plus sometimes it’s just about making a statement.
They have already not done this with Putin or Netanyahu.
There is a less than zero chance they will do this with a sitting American president. No one’s coming to save us from him we’re going to have to do it ourselves.
Have Putin or Netanyahu been to the EU since they had ICC arrest warrants issued for them? No they have not. Whats your point?
The US is irrelevant in that regard, they have never honored the ICC. But the US cant survive alone if they sever all connections to the rest of the western world.
To countries which will be able to fend off a US invasion? It would be interesting to see which country would defy the Hague Invasion Act.
Maybe the explicit threat of an invasion will let Trump visit, but it will also devastate the US’ soft power. Deals will be politely declined and made with China instead.
You might one day wake up to a world with Chinese missiles defending the Hague. Or better yet, an EU with a military capacity rivaling the US doing so.
Arresting the US President will be interpreted as an act of war and the US will retaliate militarily.
To go further, the US has never recognized the ICC. That’s not a Trump (or even a Republican) thing, either. Clinton signed it but never submitted the treaty to the Senate, Bush did nothing with it, Obama sent observers but made no move toward ratification either.
The standard arguments against joining are that the ICC doesn’t fit in with the structure of the judicial branch in the US, and that it doesn’t guarantee a trial by jury like the Constitution does. So the ICC, as it is currently structured, contradicts the Constitution so there would have to be further Constitutional changes before the US can join.
As a result, the US does not formally recognize its authority over US citizens, and should any US citizen be detained by it, we would probably dispatch some Special Forces to get them out. The countries that are part of the ICC know this, so are unlikely to push things that far.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court
Presumably, if he lands in any country that actually respects international law (which is a fair few) he will be arrested.
It matters, just not in as much as one might hope. It is mostly a symbolic step, true, because no one will arrest a sitting president. But it shows that the court is observing and condemning the actions. Think of what might come after: Trump couldn’t enter quite a few countries without fear of arrest once he is no longer president. Same with Putin, or Netanyahu. It makes international action so much easier if you can just say “well, there is a warrant out for you, so you better not show up”. Become a refugee? Better not go to a country that might uphold the warrant. Regime change in your current country of residence? Better think fast, the new administration might just need a reason to take you in.
