French President Emmanuel Macron has asked US President Donald Trump to lift "unjustly imposed sanctions" on several European citizens, including two French nationals, media reports said.
In a letter to Trump, Macron highlighted the cases of Nicolas Guillou, a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Thierry Breton, a former European commissioner.
"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," the French president wrote, according to La Tribune Dimanche.
"I ask you to reconsider these decisions by your administration and to lift the sanctions unjustly imposed on Nicolas Guillou and Thierry Breton," he added.
The sanctions also affect three other French individuals who work for non-governmental organizations monitoring online disinformation and hate speech.
When the sanctions were announced in December, the US State Department said: "These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies."
Breton, a key architect of the EU's Digital Services Act, has been leading efforts to regulate technology platforms—an approach that Washington perceives as infringing on freedom of expression.
The State Department has accused him of causing harmful "censorship" affecting American interests, and he has been barred from entering the US since December 2025.
Judge Guillou was sanctioned by Washington in August 2025, alongside other ICC magistrates, due to his role in proceedings connected to an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Also prohibited from entering the US, his Visa card—a service provided by an American company—was canceled by his French bank. He is additionally unable to access various American digital platforms, including Airbnb and Amazon.
"The sanctions adopted against Nicolas Guillou undermine the principle of judicial independence and the mandate of the ICC," Macron wrote.
