French President Emmanuel Macron has personally appealed to US President Donald Trump to reconsider and lift sanctions imposed by the United States on several European citizens, including two French nationals: Nicolas Guillou, a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Thierry Breton, the former European Commissioner for the Internal Market.
In a letter sent last week and first reported by French newspaper La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday, February 22, 2026, Macron described the measures as "unjustly imposed." He wrote: “I wish to personally draw your attention to the sanctions imposed by the United States against several European citizens, including two French nationals, Nicolas Guillou, a judge at the International Criminal Court, and Thierry Breton, a former European commissioner.”
Macron explicitly requested: “I ask you to reconsider these decisions by your administration and to lift the sanctions unjustly imposed on Nicolas Guillou and Thierry Breton.” The letter, extracts of which have been published by outlets including POLITICO, Le Monde, RFI, Anadolu Agency, and Bloomberg, also addresses sanctions affecting three other French individuals affiliated with non-governmental organizations focused on monitoring online disinformation and hate speech.
The sanctions primarily take the form of visa bans barring entry to the United States, but they have broader practical impacts. For Judge Guillou, sanctioned by the US in August 2025 alongside other ICC judges, the measures stem from his involvement in proceedings that led to the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Macron argued that these sanctions “undermine the principle of judicial independence and the mandate of the ICC.”
Guillou has publicly described severe personal consequences, including his French bank's cancellation of his Visa card (due to Visa being a US company), and restrictions on accessing American digital platforms such as Airbnb and Amazon. He has urged the European Union to intervene to counter these effects, which he likened to being "blacklisted by much of the world's banking system."
Thierry Breton, sanctioned in December 2025, was a key architect of the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates large online platforms to combat illegal content, disinformation, and hate speech. The US State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, accused Breton and associated figures of advancing "extraterritorial censorship" that targets American speakers and companies. The Trump administration labeled such efforts part of a "global censorship-industrial complex" infringing on freedom of expression. Breton has been barred from US entry since December 2025, with the State Department describing him as the "mastermind" behind the DSA.
Macron defended the EU's regulatory framework in the letter, stating that the DSA “has no extraterritorial reach and applies without discrimination, within European territory, to all companies concerned,” and that the sanctions undermine European regulatory autonomy while resting on an “erroneous analysis.”
The US actions have drawn criticism from European leaders as attempts to intimidate and interfere with sovereign regulatory decisions. At the time of the Breton sanctions announcement in December 2025, Macron condemned them as an act of intimidation undermining Europe's sovereignty. The broader package targeted Breton along with activists from organizations like the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and HateAid.
No immediate response from the White House or State Department to Macron's letter has been reported as of February 22, 2026. The appeal highlights ongoing transatlantic tensions over digital regulation, free speech versus content moderation, and the ICC's independence amid geopolitical disputes involving Israel and the US.
This diplomatic exchange occurs against the backdrop of strained US-EU relations on technology policy and international justice, with Macron positioning the request as a defense of judicial impartiality and European autonomy.
