A control method of an internal combustion engine with which braking force while reducing the speed of the motor vehicle can be established by generating pumping loss effectively by using a variable valve mechanism enabling to control arbitrarily the open-close timing and the lift amount of air intake and exhaust valves of the engine. When the break step-on force detection means detects a step-on force on a brake and an operation of the anti-lock brake system is selected, at least one of the intake valve or the exhaust valve is made close, another one not closed of the intake valve or the exhaust valve is made open once in a single revolution of the engine while a piston moves from a top dead center to a bottom dead center, and a lift of the valve is controlled to be a designated value.