President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order creating a "state sponsor of wrongful detention" designation to be used against foreign governments that unjustly hold U.S. nationals or support non-state actors that do.
Senior administration officials say it creates a new tool they claim will be a game-changer in preventing and resolving cases involving Americans held captive abroad.
"We've gotten a lot of people out and we'll continue," Trump said at an Oval Office order signing.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move an "unprecedented action to impose new consequences on those who wrongfully detain Americans abroad."
President Donald Trump looks on while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, on Sept. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Rubio said the designation could be accompanied by a range of "severe penalties," including "economic sanctions, visa restrictions, foreign assistance restrictions, and travel restrictions for U.S. passport holders."
"No nation should want to end up on this list," he added. "The bottom line: Anyone who uses an American as a bargaining chip will pay the price."
Officials say the designation could potentially be used against both internationally recognized governments that detain Americans as well as other entities that control large territories of land, such as the Taliban. It could also be used against governments that support non-state actors that hold U.S. citizens captive.
The secretary of state will have the power to impose the designation, as well as the ability to lift it if the impacted entity demonstrated signs of improvement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press conference with Mexico's Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente at the Foreign Ministry building in Mexico City, Mexico, September 3, 2025.
Henry Romero/Reuters
Ahead of the signing, senior administration officials touted the measure, saying it would greatly expand the U.S. government's ability to exert pressure on foreign powers that unjustly detain U.S. citizens.
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The Trump administration has not indicated how quickly it expects to use the new designation, but officials hinted that it wouldn't be long.
"The point of the president signing this executive order is that there will be action," another senior official said.
Officials have likened the new measure and its consequences to the U.S. government's "State Sponsor of Terrorism" designation, which is applied to countries found to have "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism."
"For those countries or those state actors that hold Americans, there's going to be a massive cost to them," one official said.
Officials also indicated a wide range of countries could potentially be subject to the designation, including countries the U.S. has very few ties with, such as Iran, and global powerbrokers like China.