French President Macron personally appeals to Trump to remove US sanctions on EU figures, citing sovereignty and judicial independence concerns.

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has personally appealed to US counterpart Donald Trump to lift sanctions on several European officials.

According to extracts of a letter seen by AFP, Macron made a direct request to reconsider what he called unjust measures against figures including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and ICC judge Nicolas Guillou.

The letter’s existence was first reported by La Tribune Dimanche newspaper.

Breton has been barred from entering the United States since December 2025 over his work on EU digital platform regulation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denounced the EU rules as “blatant acts of extraterritorial censorship.”

Macron countered that the sanctions impinge on the EU’s sovereign right to regulate within its own borders.

He stressed that EU regulations do not extend to US territory.

Judge Guillou was sanctioned by Washington in August 2025 alongside other International Criminal Court judges.

The sanctions relate to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Beyond a US travel ban, Guillou’s French bank withdrew his Visa card and he is blocked from using services like Airbnb and Amazon.

Macron argued these measures breach the fundamental independence of the justice system.

 The Sun Malaysia