When Canadian and European Space Agency leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together in June, leaders focused their public remarks primarily on shared exploration goals and decades of fruitful partnership.
“Canada and the European Space Agency are working on a number of projects all the way from exploration to Earth observation, communication, navigation and many other domains,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said in an interview with Canada’s CTV News. “This cooperation has to be deepened because it is absolutely fruitful for both sides.”
But Aschbacher also mentioned another critical component to the relationship. He noted the importance of Europe, Canada and other countries working together at a time when “the United States is focusing much more on the domestic activities and therefore international cooperation being maybe not of the highest priority, at least in space.”
Aschbacher is right about changing U.S. space priorities.
After decades of working closely with international space agencies, the Trump administration is reevaluating programs through an “America First” lens, which prioritize domestic prosperity over foreign-policy considerations. Through that lens, policymakers would consider whether a joint space program created U.S. jobs, improved the U.S. balance of trade with another nation or offered access to unique technology.
Read more: A New Approach to Space Diplomacy: Hard-hitting Calculations Outweigh Foreign-policy Considerations by Debra Werner