The International Criminal Court and dozens of countries on Friday condemned sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump over probes targeting America and Israel as a threat to “law based international order”.The United Nations and the European Union urged Trump to reverse the asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their families and anyone deemed to have helped ICC investigations.US allies, including Britain, France and Canada, were among 79 of the 125 ICC member states who said the US action “could jeopardize” the safety of victims, witnesses and court officials. Trump on Thursday signed an executive order saying that the court, which was founded in 2002 to investiate genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, had “abused its power” by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks with the US president on Tuesday.The ICC, which is based in The Hague, said the sanctions sought to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work”. It vowed to stand “firmly” with staff “providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world”.Court president Tomoko Akane said: “Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the court’s states parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims.”- ‘Undermines’ justice system -The United Nations urged Trump to reverse the move.”The court should be fully able to undertake its independent work,” OHCHR UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in an email statement.”The rule of law remains essential to our collective peace and security. Seeking accountability globally makes the world a safer place for everyone.”Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU’s 27 member states, wrote on X that the move “undermines the international criminal justice system”.The European Commission expressed “regret” and stressed the ICC’s “key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity”.The 79 ICC member countries said Trump’s sanctions increased the “risk of impunity” for serious crimes and “threaten to erode the international rule of law”.That statement was led by Slovenia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu but Brazil, Britain, Canada, France and Germany were among the signatories.The court has pursued investigations in several conflict zones and Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy was quick to express concern over the sanctions.”We hope that they will not affect the court’s ability to achieve justice for the victims of Russian aggression,” he said. The Kremlin only reaffirmed that it does not recognise the ICC.- ICC ‘illegitimate’: Trump -The names of individuals affected by sanctions were not immediately released, but previous US sanctions under Trump targeted the court’s prosecutor.Trump’s order said that the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”, referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza.Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar strongly applauded Trump and called the court’s actions against Israel “immoral” and without “legal basis”.Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court.Following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, judges issued arrest warrants on November 21 for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif, who was killed last year.The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation in Gaza, as well as crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.Netanyahu accused the court of anti-Semitism.During his first term, Trump imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on the ICC’s then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and other senior officials in 2020. His administration acted after Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan. She opened a probe into events in the Palestinian territories in 2019.Current prosecutor Khan later effectively dropped the US from the Afghan investigation and focused on the Taliban instead.  President Joe Biden lifted the US sanctions after taking office in 2021.burs-tw/bc

The US Postal Service (USPS) said Wednesday it would continue accepting packages from China and Hong Kong, hours after an order to suspend shipments over President Donald Trump’s new tariffs sparked fears of major trade disruptions.Tensions between the US and China have soared in recent days as the world’s two largest economies slapped a volley of tariffs on each others’ imports, hitting hundreds of billions of dollars in trade.As part of Trump’s tariffs — which he enacted citing drug trafficking concerns — the United States on Tuesday scrapped a duty-free exemption for low-value packages.The “de minimis” exemption allows goods valued at $800 or below to enter the United States without paying duties or certain taxes, but it has faced scrutiny due to a surge in shipments in recent years.The US Customs and Border Protection agency said last month that exemption shipments rose to over 1.36 billion in fiscal year 2024, creating challenges for its enforcement of trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, and consumer protection rules.US officials have pointed to the growth of Chinese-founded online retailers Shein and Temu as a key factor behind the increase — and Tuesday’s halt threatened major delays to parcels from both companies from entering the country.The developments at the USPS came as the latest data showed the US trade deficit swelled last year to its second-largest on record, a metric that Trump has used in the past to justify trade battles with China and others.In an apparent climbdown, the USPS on Wednesday morning said it would “continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.””The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery,” it added, without further details.Beijing had responded with fury to the move, accusing the United States of “politicizing trade and economic issues and using them as tools.”Vowing to “take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian accused Washington of “unreasonable suppression.”AFP has reached out to Shein and Temu for comment.Other retailers such as Amazon might also be impacted by the “de minimis” removal.The low-cost retailers took another hit Wednesday as the European Commission announced it would seek to impose new fees on e-commerce imports — the bulk of which come from China.The measures are part of efforts to tackle a surge of “harmful” products into the bloc.- Tariff standoff -Tuesday saw Beijing say it would impose levies on imports of US energy, vehicles and equipment in a return salvo minutes after Trump’s threatened tariffs on Chinese goods came into effect.A day earlier, Trump suspended duties on Mexico and Canada for a month after both countries vowed to step up measures to counter flows of the drug fentanyl and the crossing of undocumented migrants into the United States.Beijing’s moves hit roughly $20 billion worth of US goods per year — roughly 12 percent of total American imports into China, according to calculations by Capital Economics.But their impact is a far cry from US tariffs announced over the weekend, which will affect some $450 billion worth of goods.Although earlier it appeared that US parcels could still be sent from Macau, by Wednesday evening the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s post office announced that its service was also suspended.Trump had signalled earlier that the talks with Xi could take place early this week, but addressing reporters at the White House Tuesday afternoon, he said he was in “no rush.”

Despite Donald Trump’s tariff threats, Mexican farmers working flat out to meet Super Bowl fans’ appetite for guacamole believe that, as long as they keep growing avocados, people will keep buying them.”In the end, the trees are here, the avocados are there, and the customer will either want them or not,” said Agustin del Rio, a producer in the western state of Michoacan.”Fortunately, they always do,” the 49-year-old told AFP.The farmers who harvest the fruit beloved for its creamy green flesh are no strangers to adversity.Michoacan is one of Mexico’s most dangerous states, and ultra-violent drug cartels battle for a share of its agricultural riches through robbery, kidnapping and extortion.Trump’s vow to impose 25-percent tariffs on Mexican goods — he cites illegal migration and drug smuggling as his motive — are another headache for the industry.”Am I worried? Of course, just like anyone would be,” Del Rio said in his orchard in Uruapan.”How is it our fault? We’re a bargaining chip,” he added.- Free trade in doubt -Mexican avocado shipments are worth more than three billion dollars a year, with consumption in the United States set to peak on Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans in the climax of the NFL season.Trade between the neighboring countries has flourished under a North American free trade deal whose future has been plunged into uncertainty by Trump’s tariff threats.Michoacan — which covers an area as big as Costa Rica — will have exported some 110,000 tons of the fruit for the Super Bowl by the time it kicks off, according to Mexico’s association of avocado producers and exporters.It is the importers in the United States who would be responsible for paying the tariffs and most probably try to pass the extra cost on to the consumer.For now, Trump has agreed to delay the levies for a month, until early March, after Mexico pledged to deploy 10,000 more troops to its border with the United States to combat drug and migrant flows.As the Super Bowl approached, farmers were working at full capacity to meet demand.Near Del Rio’s orchard, dozens of employees packed avocados using a mechanized process allowing shipments to reach the border in one day.Machines selected the fruits by size and quality before workers arranged them in cardboard boxes.Some 150 tons of the fruit are processed daily at this location alone with the label: “Avocados from Mexico. The world’s finest.”The boxes, which are kept in cold storage, have codes that allow the entire production chain to be tracked.A sample is selected from each shipment to be checked by an inspector from the US Department of Agriculture.In 2022, the United States briefly suspended avocado imports from Michoacan after one such inspector checking shipments before the Super Bowl received phone threats. Industry sources said at the time that the incident was believed to be linked to attempts by some producers to surreptitiously export avocados from regions other than Michoacan to the United States.Drivers of the trucks that transport avocados must also be vigilant for potential robberies.For now, however, avocado farmers can at least breathe a sigh of relief that tariffs were avoided at their busiest time of the year.And whatever the future holds, few expect demand for the fruit to wither away.”It’s a good product, a reliable product, a healthy product. So at a higher or lower price, they will sell — I’m sure of it,” Del Rio said.