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Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump struck a warm tone at their first meeting on Friday, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies — for now.Heaping praise on each other at the White House, the two leaders pledged to stand together against Chinese “aggression” and said they found a solution for a blocked deal for troubled US Steel.Trump however pressed Ishiba to cut the US trade deficit with Japan to zero, and warned that Tokyo could still face tariffs on exported goods if it fails to do so.Ishiba, an avowed “geek” and model warship fan, has been under pressure to replicate Trump’s close relationship with former premier and golf buddy Shinzo Abe. Both leaders insisted they had struck up a rapport during what was only the second visit by a foreign leader of Trump’s new term.- ‘Frightening’ -“I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television in person,” Ishiba told their joint press conference — while saying he was not trying to “suck up.” “On television he is frightening and has a very strong personality. But when I met with him actually he was very sincere and very powerful.”As they exchanged photographs, Trump praised the 68-year-old Japanese premier as “good looking” — typically one of the former reality TV star’s highest orders of praise.And the US president laughed and said “that’s a very good answer” when Ishiba said he could not respond to a “theoretical question” about whether he would retaliate to any US tariffs.Trump meanwhile said that Japan’s Nippon Steel will make a major investment in US Steel, but not take over the troubled company as previously negotiated.Trump said “they’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase.” His predecessor Joe Biden had blocked the deal.The two leaders also doubled down on decades-old US ties in security and trade — despite fears that Trump could turn on Tokyo as he has with other US allies.- Chinese ‘aggression’ -Trump said they had agreed to fight “Chinese economic aggression” and in a joint statement they condemned Beijing for “provocative activities” in the contested South China Sea.They also called for a denuclearized North Korea, although Trump — who met its leader Kim Jong-un during his first term — said he wanted to have “relations” with Pyongyang.Behind Trump’s expressions of support were Japan’s promises of a 1 trillion dollar investment in the United States and to boost Japanese purchases of US defense equipment. Ishiba said his country was the biggest investor in the United States and would step up its spending.The soft-spoken, cigarette-smoking Ishiba had rushed to Washington hoping to blunt the edge of Trump’s “America First” policies.Under Abe, Japan was shielded from some of Trump’s more punishing tendencies, such as sudden trade wars and pressure to increase financial contributions towards hosting US soldiers.Days after Trump’s first election victory, Abe rushed to deliver to him a gold-plated golf club. Trump also hosted Abe’s widow Akie for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this past December.So far the US president has slapped tariffs on China and ordered them on Mexico and Canada before halting them for a month.He has also pledged tariffs on the European Union and said Friday that he would announce unspecified “reciprocal tariffs” next week.

Brazil on Friday received a second plane of migrants deported from the United States, after a row between the countries last month over the treatment of a first group of people, who arrived cuffed and shackled.A Brazilian government source told AFP that 111 passengers were on the civilian aircraft which left from Louisiana and arrived in northeastern Fortaleza — confirmed by an AFP photographer on the scene.”The information we have is that they are all Brazilian,” the source said.Shortly after taking office last month, US President Donald Trump ordered a battery of measures against undocumented immigrants, including mass raids and deportations, and the deployment of troops on the border with Mexico.As observers attempt to separate fact from White House rhetoric, however, the Brazilian government source said that the flights that have arrived so far were a result of a 2017 deal with Washington which has resulted in multiple deportations over the years.According to federal police statistics, 94 flights carrying over 7,500 deportees arrived in Brazil from the United States between 2020 and 2024.However, the first flight under Trump saw 88 Brazilians arriving in handcuffs and with shackles on their feet, complaining they had not been given water or allowed to use the bathroom.In response, Brazil summoned the top US envoy to explain what the government called the “flagrant disregard” for the migrants’ rights.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided that when the latest flight enters Brazil it “has to land in the closest location so that Brazilians are not left handcuffed on the plane,” the governor of Ceara state, Elmano de Freitas, told a press conference Thursday.The passengers would then be transported from Fortaleza to southeastern Belo Horizonte by a Brazilian Air Force aircraft.Brazil this week formed a working group with US representatives to “guarantee the humane reception” of deportees, authorities said.

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.

In America’s largest Arab enclave, where frustration with President Joe Biden’s Gaza policy led many to back Donald Trump, anger is now growing over the president’s explosive proposal to take control of the Palestinian territory.But Dearborn voters say their only viable option in 2024 was to punish Democrats, leveraging their influence as a minority community on their core issue.”I do not regret my vote,” said Samra’a Luqman, a political activist in this Detroit suburb of 110,000, where most residents have Middle Eastern or North African heritage.Previously a Democratic stronghold, Dearborn saw Trump win 42.5 percent of the vote in November, followed by Kamala Harris at 36.3 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 18.3 percent.Some Democratic critics claim the community helped deliver Michigan to Trump, despite his decisive 80,000-vote margin — a gap too large to be attributed solely to shifts within the relatively small Arab and Muslim electorate. Moreover, Trump carried all seven swing states.”We’ve seen the great march of return, emotions I can’t even describe,” said 42-year-old Luqman, describing the overwhelming joy of displaced Palestinians finally returning home despite the devastation. She credited Trump for making the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas possible.- Trump’s promises -Yet Luqman and other Trump voters insist they strongly oppose the Republican’s idea of displacing the nearly two million Gazans from their homeland and remain committed to holding both US political parties accountable in future elections.”That’s not something we will stand for,” said Faye Nemer, 39, a prominent businesswoman who lost relatives in Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon. “Palestine is a red line for the community.”Nemer said the community met with high-level Democrats and Republicans before deciding whom to support.Trump visited Dearborn, while Harris did not, touring the state instead with Liz Cheney, who many Americans consider a war hawk.Nemer, who helped organize a lunch for Trump at a local restaurant, said he pledged support for peace and a two-state solution — an assurance that swayed many voters. She remains “very optimistic” he will ultimately deliver.Bishara Bahbah, a prominent Trump supporter celebrating in Dearborn on election night, is also confident in Trump’s broader vision for Middle East diplomacy.”The president wants to see peace in the Middle East that satisfies all parties,” he told AFP, insisting Trump was speaking “hypothetically rather than realistically” about displacing Gazans.Bahbah chairs the group formerly known as “Arab Americans for Trump,” recently renamed “Arab Americans for Peace” — a change he says reflects the post-election shift rather than any reaction to Trump’s policies.- Silence from mayors -Trump also secured endorsements from Arab American mayors Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights and Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck, although neither responded to requests for comment. Bazzi did speak to AFP on election night, celebrating Trump’s win.For local news publisher Osama Siblani, 70, their silence may stem from embarrassment.”They have nothing to say, but they have to answer to their constituents,” he said, noting that both mayors face re-election in 2025.”Trump came here and he lied. He said, ‘I’m going to spread peace and love in the region and in the world.’ And as soon as he got in, he wants to take Canada, he wants to take Greenland, he wants to take Panama, he wants to take Gaza.”Still, Siblani believes Democrats are to blame for their losses, pointing out that his newspaper, The Arab American News, endorsed neither candidate.”We are not responsible for this outcome; our price was low,” said comedian and lawyer Amer Zahr, 47, who voted for Stein.Zahr argued that Harris could have secured Arab American support simply by signaling openness to an arms embargo on Israel.Instead, Democrats’ condemnation of Trump’s proposals and newfound willingness to talk about “ethnic cleansing” only “validates” the community’s choices by proving the party can be nudged in the right direction with the right incentives, he said.Luqman, who leans strongly left on issues like the environment and abortion, acknowledged the difficult choice many faced.”A lot of people held their nose and voted who did not want to vote Republican but did it anyway, and are now open to either party,” she said.

President Donald Trump on Friday threatened tariffs on Japanese goods if the US trade deficit with Tokyo is not equalized, as he met Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Washington.Ishiba, who is only the second foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump returned to power, heaped praise on the US president as he tried to build a bond with the mercurial Trump.As they met in the Oval Office, Ishiba hailed Trump’s “undaunted presence, that you stood up and you raised your fist high in the sky” after the Republican survived an assassination attempt last year.The Japanese premier — whose country is a key US ally against a rising China and a nuclear-armed North Korea — said his country was the biggest investor in the United States and would step up its spending.But Trump insisted that he wanted “equality” in the trade balance between the two countries — and said “yes” when asked whether tariffs could follow if no progress was made.Trump also said the two would discuss the thorny issue of Nippon Steel’s blocked takeover bid of US Steel.The president has previously supported his predecessor Joe Biden’s decision to stop the deal, but US media reported that he might relent.An avowed “geek” and model warship fan, Ishiba is unlikely to replicate Trump’s close relationship with former premier and golf buddy Shinzo Abe in the US president’s first term.But Trump said that Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, had “tremendous respect” for Ishiba.- ‘Golden age’ -The key for Ishiba will be to protect Japan from the tariffs that Trump has slapped on China, imposed then halted on Mexico and Canada, and promised to levy on the European Union.”It would be wonderful if we could affirm that we will work together for the development of this region, and the world, and for peace,” Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo before the trip.The soft-spoken, cigarette-smoking Ishiba is hoping Japanese investment in the United States will appeal to Trump’s “America First” policies.The leaders are expected to issue a joint statement vowing to build a “golden age” of bilateral relations, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported, echoing the slogan from the US president’s inaugural speech.Ishiba is also set to tell Trump that Japan will increase defense purchases from the United States, the Nikkei report said.Japan is one of Washington’s closest allies in Asia, with around 54,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.Under Abe, Japan was shielded from some of Trump’s more punishing tendencies, such as sudden trade wars and pressure to increase financial contributions towards hosting US soldiers.Days after Trump’s first election victory, Abe rushed to deliver to him a gold-plated golf club. Trump also hosted Abe’s widow Akie for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this past December.A Japanese foreign ministry official said in Tokyo that “we hope the leaders will be able to build a relationship of personal trust.”

President Donald Trump on Friday raged against eco-friendly paper straws promoted by his predecessor Joe Biden, and pledged that the United States would return to plastic ones.The move is his latest on green issues since returning to power, after pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement and ordering deregulations as part of a “drill, baby, drill” agenda.On Thursday, the Republican’s administration also sought to block funding for a network of electric-vehicle charging stations across the country, sparking fury from environmentalists.Trump pledged action against paper straws, which are unpopular with many consumers but create less plastic pollution.”I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!” he said on social media.Democrat Biden had announced a target to eliminate single-use plastic utensils like drinking straws by 2035 across government agencies.The trend for paper drinking straws has long irritated Trump.”They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They’re not working too good,” he said during a campaign rally in the 2020 election against Biden.”It disintegrates as you drink it, and if you have a nice tie like this tie, you’ve got no choice.”Trump’s campaign team previously sold branded plastic straws with the slogan: “Liberal paper straws don’t work.”The president, who calls climate change a scam, has also often targeted electric vehicles despite his close alliance with Tesla chief Elon Musk.Halting rollout of the $5 billion national EV charging network would be a major setback to efforts to cut climate-changing emissions, according to green campaigners.”His administration’s move to block funding for a bipartisan effort to build out our national EV charging network is a blatant, illegal power grab,” the Evergreen Action group said.”This program is delivering real benefits to all 50 states — creating jobs, boosting economic opportunities, and cutting pollution.”

The United States added fewer jobs than expected in January although hiring remained healthy, government data showed Friday, marking resilience in the labor market heading into President Donald Trump’s new term.There was severe winter weather during the month and devastating fires in California, which the Labor Department said did not have a clear impact on national figures, even though analysts warned they likely showed up in the details.Looking ahead, heightened tariff risks and plans for slowing immigration under Trump may also give businesses some pause as they mull further hiring, economists said.Total employment rose by 143,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department, significantly lower than the revised 307,000 figure in December.The January number was also below an analyst consensus estimate of 155,000 according to Briefing.com.Meanwhile, the jobless rate edged down to 4.0 percent from 4.1 percent, beating analyst expectations.Wage growth was better than analysts expected, accelerating to 0.5 percent, the report showed.The data added to signs that the US economy remained in good shape heading into Trump’s second term, which began on January 20, analysts noted.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt however said the report showed the economy under predecessor Joe Biden was “far worse than anyone thought, and underscores the necessity” of Trump’s deregulatory agenda.Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, took aim at downward revisions to last year’s figures in the latest update, telling media that the Trump administration has “a lot of work to do.”In a note, Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic said annual employment revisions were “larger than usual” but not unexpected.”Taken together, December and January payroll figures paint a strong picture of the economy,” added Carl Weinberg and Mary Chen of High Frequency Economics.They said they expect that with these figures, the US central bank would not be in a rush to cut interest rates.KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk noted that revisions to data suggested the first half of last year was weaker than the second, reassuring the Federal Reserve that its recent decision to hold rates steady was justified.”Payrolls held up better than expected in the wake of the fires in California, although the disaster did leave an imprint on the data,” she added in a note, pointing to a hit in the leisure and hospitality sector.Sectors like health care, retail trade and social assistance saw job gains, the Labor Department said, while employment declined in industries like mining, alongside oil and gas.- ‘Wildcard’ -“Trade policy will likely be the biggest wildcard for 2025,” said EY senior economist Lydia Boussour in a note.”Steep tariffs and heightened policy uncertainty could push businesses to increasingly adopt wait-and-see behaviors and pull back on hiring,” she warned.This could lead to a more significant slowdown in hiring, weaker incomes and restrained consumer spending, she said.Over the past weekend, Trump unveiled — and then paused — 25 percent tariffs on major US trading partners Canada and Mexico, which included a lower rate for Canadian energy imports.But an additional 10 percent levy on Chinese imports, alongside a suspension of duty-free exemptions for low value goods, came into effect on Tuesday, triggering Beijing’s announcement of retaliation.Trump has also threatened tariffs on the European Union, and signaled he could target imports in sectors including semiconductors.Ger Doyle, US country manager at ManpowerGroup, added in a note that “2025 is shaping up to be another year of significant changes.””Our real-time data show total open job postings declined three percent, indicating a slight contraction in overall job demand,” he said.

The International Criminal Court on Friday condemned US sanctions over probes targeting America and Israel and pledged to press on with its aim to fight for “justice and hope” around the world.The United Nations and the European Union urged US President Donald 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 ICC member states who said the US action “could jeopardize” the safety of victims, witnesses and court officials. The sanctions could also hit the court’s technical and IT operations, including evidence gathering. There were also fears that victims might now hesitate to come forward.Trump signed an executive order Thursday saying the court based in The Hague 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 said the sanctions sought to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work”.”The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” it added. – ‘Undermines’ justice system -The United Nations urged Trump to reverse the move.”The court should be fully able to undertake its independent work — where a state is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution,” UN human rights office OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told AFP in an email.”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 separately expressed “regret” and stressed the ICC’s “key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity”.Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy also expressed concern.”We hope that they will not affect the court’s ability to achieve justice for the victims of Russian aggression,” he said.Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof called the US action a “disturbing signal”. As court’s host, the Netherlands would seek to maintain the “unhindered functioning” of the ICC, he added.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.- 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 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 as a method of warfare 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 Gambian-born Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan. Bensouda also 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 sanctions after taking office in 2021.burs-tw/jj