The European Union has warned the United States that sanctions against the International Criminal Court will damage the international justice system

The European Union has warned that US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) not only threaten the court's independence but also undermine the international justice system.

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday accusing the International Criminal Court in The Hague of "abuse of power" for issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Sanctioning the ICC not only threatens the independence of the court, but also undermines the entire international criminal justice system," Antonio Costa, who took office as president of the European Council in December, wrote in a post on Friday.

The European Commission, for its part, expressed "regret" at Trump's sanctions, stressing the ICC's "crucial role" in upholding international criminal justice and fighting impunity.

A European Commission spokesman said the executive order could affect ongoing investigations and proceedings, including Ukrainian-related cases, and impact the global system of judicial accountability that has been built up over many years. "The EU will closely monitor the impact of the executive order and assess possible further measures."

In his executive order, Trump denounced the ICC's investigations into the US and Israel as "illegal and baseless", specifically referring to the court's investigations into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan and Israeli forces in Gaza.

The sanctions include freezing the assets of ICC officials, employees and their families and imposing a travel ban on all individuals assisting the court's investigations. At present, the list of sanctioned persons has not been released.

It is worth noting that neither the United States nor Israel are members of the ICC.