The policy orientations of the Trump II administration profoundly challenge the foundations of international cooperation in space science and exploration. This shift reflects a broader trend of strategic disengagement and weakening of multilateral mechanisms in the space domain.

Amid growing strategic and geopolitical uncertainty, Europe is grappling with the notion of its strategic autonomy. For Europe’s partners in Asia, the concept is also becoming increasingly salient as the world enters an era of structural transformation.

Faced with a profoundly disrupted strategic and economic environment, Franco-German cooperation is more than ever the central pillar of Europe's future. The war in Ukraine, energy and technological dependence, and uncertainty about the strength of the transatlantic ties require urgent deepening of European sovereignty, both in terms of defence and economic and industrial competitiveness.